ATHENS, Ga. --- The day after the largest loss in Mark Richt's coaching career and the second most lopsided ever for Georgia against rival Florida, the Bulldogs coach did what he normally does the Sunday after a game.

Richt broke down game film to look for clues to improve, after Florida's 49-10 throttling Saturday.

"You're always going to be critiquing what you do," Richt said. "We do that every week."

Getting better and winning Saturday's 12:30 p.m. game at Kentucky are about all that's left for the Bulldogs to worry about.

The harsh reality is the Bulldogs are out of the national title race and are likely to miss the Southeastern Conference title game for the third season in a row.

Georgia returns to practice today, but Richt can't be sure of the players' state of mind.

"Everybody spent themselves in a worthy cause and lost," Richt said. "It's hard to deal with. You've got to get right back to work and get ready to play because Kentucky is playing for just as much as we're playing for right now."

The Bulldogs (7-2, 4-2 SEC) fell six spots Sunday to No. 14 in the USA Today and AP polls, its lowest ranking since Oct. 21, 2007 -- when Georgia was 20th.

Fourth-ranked Florida (7-1, 5-1) can clinch a trip to the SEC title game with a win Saturday night at Vanderbilt or vs. South Carolina on Nov. 15. Georgia would need to beat Kentucky and Auburn, and Florida would have to lose its next two games, something Richt said is unlikely.

"We're not going to say it's over, until it is over," Richt said, "until it does in fact become a moot point."

Alabama's 41-30 victory Sept. 30 and Florida's 39-point blowout changed the complexion of the season for the Bulldogs, the nation's preseason No. 1 team.

"When the season's over, the history might prove they're the two best teams in the country, too, or at least two of the top five," Richt said. "We had a chance to be one of those with the victory in either one of those games, for that matter."

Georgia's chances to beat Florida vanished quickly with four second-half turnovers, the biggest coming when Joe Haden returned a Matthew Stafford interception 88 yards to set up a touchdown.

Florida coach Urban Meyer said Sunday a decision was made to try to force Georgia to throw the ball.

"They have one of the best backs in college football and we were going to sink that eighth defender in the box the entire night, and we did that," Meyer said. "We picked our poison."

Knowshon Moreno, who averaged 167.5 yards rushing the previous two games, was held to 65 on 17 carries. Stafford, meanwhile, had his first three-interception game in two years.

Georgia was on an emotional high after the 52-38 win at LSU before facing Florida.

"It's just tough to peak week after week after week and we didn't," Richt said. "I've got to do a better job of getting them to be able to do that."

Reach Marc Weiszer at marc.weiszer@onlineathens.com.