There's been much to digest this week.

For some (Florida Gators and Barack Obama supporters) hope and opportunity is going down smoothly. For others (Georgia Bulldogs and John McCain backers) the disappointment is hard to swallow.

Resounding defeat always leads to soul searching, and there is much of that going on at Georgia after suffering the most humiliating and lopsided loss in Mark Richt's coaching tenure. The hated Gators took the Bulldogs to the woodshed to the tune of 49-10. The hopes and dreams of a special season were crushed along with them.

"We are all a little disappointed with how close we came to accomplishing great things, but I feel in time we are going to be fine," linebacker Rennie Curran said.

In truth, the Bulldogs were not close at all. They were barely even competitive in their two toughest games. They exited matchups against Alabama and Florida with zero ambiguity about which teams were superior.

So the mood around Athens, Ga., is predictably low. What was supposed to be a transcendent team has experienced defeat this season on a scale that's tough to tolerate. It's not Clemson bad -- where a coach has already been fired and a bowl bid remains an uphill climb. But it's bad enough in a relative sense.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. Most Georgia fans understood just how difficult it would be to measure up to the preseason No. 1 expectations against a rugged Southeastern Conference schedule. The vast majority were not delusional.

But the reality that November has arrived and all hope of winning a division, conference or national championship are gone is still painful.

Georgia's players had to live with the dominating Alabama loss for two weeks, but there was still much at stake and the idle time was used to prepare for a revival and a possible second chance in the SEC title game. This time the incentive is diminished and the need to get back on the field to wash the Florida stain off them is palpable.

"We have to play another game here as soon as possible," said Richt of Saturday's date at Kentucky. "I'm glad we have a 12:30 kickoff. The sooner the better for us."

What happened Saturday in Jacksonville, Fla., should have come as no surprise. Sure it might have been more competitive had a few plays gone differently, but that kind of thinking obscures the reality that this Georgia team, for all of its skilled talent, is flawed.

All of the little issues that had been piling up for the Bulldogs in the first eight games came together in a big way to haunt them against Florida.

There was another defensive personal foul that negated a momentum-building turnover in the first quarter (just like against Alabama).

There were more missed field goals by freshman kicker Blair Walsh.

There was more self-inflicted red-zone futility, including Matthew Stafford missing a wide-open receiver in the end zone, that steadily dug a hole too deep to recover from.

There were more interceptions that led to opposing touchdowns.

There was more manhandling on both sides of the line of scrimmage, putting undo pressure on one quarterback and little pressure on the other.

This last point is the real crux of Georgia's problems. The season-long losses of two foundation pillars -- left offensive tackle Trinton Sturdivant and defensive tackle Jeff Owens -- proved more costly than imagined. Without a sturdy foundation, the remaining structure is ultimately doomed. Richt isn't giving up on the pieces just because the puzzle has come apart.

"I've not lost any faith in Matthew whatsoever," he said. "I've not lost any faith in Blair Walsh whatsoever. I've not lost any faith in our defense whatsoever. We are a team and we are going to stick together. We are going to battle through any adversity that we're in."

That's not what the theme for these final three regular-season games was supposed to be. Yet, once again, Georgia is faced with the task of regrouping and trying to make the most of what's left of the season. There are still strong goals to motivate -- posting double-digit victories for the sixth time in seven years, sustaining a seven-game winning streak over rival Georgia Tech and qualifying for another prominent bowl.

"We still get excited for each game because we still have opportunities to prosper and come out with a good record," linebacker Darryl Gamble said. "Those games are over. I just believe that we should still give the same kind of effort in each game even though we didn't pull out wins against Alabama or Florida."

Said Curran: "We can finish 11-2 like we did last year, which is nothing to be ashamed of."

That's true. But those "2" will tell the story of Georgia's 2008 campaign. And with no guarantees that undergraduate stars such as Stafford and Knowshon Moreno will still be around a year from now to make another run, it's hard to buy into the hope and opportunity when such a good chance is lost.