Georgia offensive coordinator Mike BoboGeorgia scored 35 points in last Saturday's loss at South Carolina, but it was the potential touchdown the Bulldogs left on the field that remains a hot topic.
Damian Swann's interception with 5:24 remaining set the Bulldogs up with a first-and-goal at the 4, but a first-down fake to Todd Gurley resulted in an intentional-grounding penalty on Hutson Mason when Gamecocks defensive end Gerald Dixon didn't bite. Georgia couldn't recover from second-and-goal at the 14 and came away empty when Marshall Morgan missed a 28-yard field-goal try.
"It's a bottom-line business, and the bottom line is that we've got to score," Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo told reporters after Tuesday's practice. "We had one more chance to score, and we didn't get it done. We had three shots at it and didn't get it in the end zone, and that's ultimately my responsibility and my fault. It's something we thought would work at the time, and it didn't work."
Pressed further on why he didn't give it to Gurley on first down, Bobo said, "I'm going to call the best play that I think gives us the best chance to win, and at that time I thought that play did, period."
Mason thought it was a great play call and that the worst thing that could happen did. He added that the "whole world knows you're going to give it to Todd there" and that you can't be too predictable.
Defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt was surprised to hear Bobo had been catching heat about the first-and-goal selection.
"They ought to be dragging me over the coals," Pruitt told reporters. "When you score 35 points, you're supposed to win. It's embarrassing for me to be a part of a team that scores 35 points and you lose a football game. I'll be the first to say I've got to do my part on this side to fix that so it doesn't happen again."
Wild, wild West
When Mark Richt was hired as Georgia's football coach following the 2000 season, the SEC was being dominated by the East Division, specifically the tandem of Florida and Tennessee.
Richt quickly got the Bulldogs in the East mix with league championships in 2002 and '05, but the past five SEC titles have gone to teams from the West. The West had five of the top 15 teams in the final Associated Press poll of the 2010 season, when Auburn won the national title, and this week's poll has five West teams in the AP top 10.
"There hasn't been a lot of conference play, although Texas A&M obviously beat South Carolina," Richt said. "I don't even know who else has crossed over right now because it's so early in the year, but depending on scheduling, sometimes you can have a lot of teams in the SEC undefeated if no one has played each other.
"They definitely have some great teams over there, but we've got some good teams on our side, too."
The only East-West matchups so far this season have been Texas A&M's 52-28 win at South Carolina and Ole Miss's 41-3 win at Vanderbilt. A third takes place Saturday when Florida visits Alabama.
Bellamy's return
Redshirt freshman Davin Bellamy earned a second-team outside linebacker spot out of spring practice, but he derailed his own hopes for impacting the defense in late July with an arrest for speeding and driving under the influence, The 6-foot-5, 235-pounder from the Atlanta suburb of Chamblee was suspended for the Clemson and South Carolina games but is expected to play Saturday.
"Bellamy will help us," Richt said. "He had a good camp, and for what it's worth, he took his discipline like a man. He showed up every morning at 5:30 and worked hard. Obviously he had the punitive damage of not being able to play a couple games, and he was on the scout team most of that time, but even on the scout team he busted his tail trying to help the team win."
Odds and ends
Redshirt junior receivers Malcolm Mitchell (knee) and Justin Scott-Wesley (ankle) remain doubtful, according to Richt, who added that redshirt freshman tailback A.J. Turman (foot) isn't close to returning. ... Richt on the Troy Trojans: "They're a team that is desperate for a victory. We're desperate for a victory, too."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.