University of Georgia Athletics
Georgia Welcomes Open Date Before Facing Florida
October 16, 2011 | Football
Oct. 16, 2011
ATHENS, Ga. - Riding a five-game win streak, the 24th-ranked Georgia Bulldogs will have the week off before facing Florida on October 29 in Jacksonville, Fla. The game is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. and will be televised on CBS.
Speaking on his weekly teleconference Sunday, head coach Mark Richt noted that there are no significant injuries for the Bulldogs right now and everyone should be healthy for the game against the Gators.
The Bulldogs, coming off a 33-28 win over Vanderbilt, own a 5-2 record on the year and a 4-1 mark in the Southeastern Conference. Georgia is currently tied with South Carolina for first in the Eastern Division.
"We have to keep winning and someone has to beat South Carolina and no one has done that yet," Richt said. "I don't know what is going to happen in the East race. All we can do is keep pace and keep winning so that if someone can beat South Carolina, we can be in a position to compete for the division and SEC title."
Richt also noted that the bye week has come at a good time for the Bulldogs. Georgia will practice Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before taking the weekend off for some needed rest.
"I think we need some time to rest and relax," added Richt. "We are not going to go too hard in practice this week. We're going to begin coming up with a game plan for Florida this week without wearing out guys out. I don't want too much hitting going on or to set anyone back. We should have the game plan finished by the end of the week so that we can go hard next week and have guys 100 percent ready."
Looking ahead to Florida, who is 4-3 and on a three-game slide, including a 17-6 loss to Auburn on Saturday, Richt knows the challenges that await the Bulldogs as they plan for the Gators. After losing its starter, Florida has rotated two freshmen under center this year and has the option to bring in a fourth quarterback (John Brantley) against the Bulldogs.
"It is more problematic to not know who the quarterback is going to be," Richt said. "All we can do is see what has been done in the past and prepare as best we can. We have film on each of the Florida quarterbacks. We will have to see the difference in tendencies that the team has with each quarterback and play to those tendencies. Hopefully we will have success."
