ATHENS, Ga. --- Georgia and Tennessee will play Saturday on Rocky Top without a top-25 team represented after the Bulldogs slid out of the Associated Press and USA Today polls on Sunday.
It's the first time in 72 years -- when Franklin Roosevelt was in the White House -- that neither is ranked.
The Bulldogs will play their first game as an unranked team since the 2006 Chick-fil-A Bowl after a 20-13 loss to No. 4 Louisiana State University on Saturday.
"Tennessee's not going to feel sorry for us, and they just took a loss as well, so they're going to be hungry," Georgia quarterback Joe Cox said Sunday. "It's going to be the team that wants to win more, and we've got to be that team."
Georgia fell from No. 18 to third in others receiving votes Sunday in the AP poll and from No. 14 to the first team listed in others receiving votes in the coaches' poll.
"I knew we'd go down, I didn't know if we'd go out or not," Georgia coach Mark Richt said. "I'm just glad it's not the final poll."
Georgia (3-2, 2-1 SEC) and Tennessee (2-3, 0-2) will kickoff at 12:21 p.m. in Knoxville on the SEC Network (CBS-Ch. 12).
Under first-year coach Lane Kiffin, Tennessee (2-3, 0-2) has wins over Western Kentucky and Ohio and losses to UCLA, Florida and Auburn, which beat the Volunteers 26-22 Saturday night.
The Bulldogs would have climbed in the polls if they could have closed out LSU. The Bulldogs led by a point in the final minute before Charles Scott's 33-yard touchdown run with 46 seconds to go.
That came after Georgia was flagged 15 yards for excessive celebration after A.J. Green's 16-yard touchdown catch with 1:09 remaining. Green drew the penalty, the officiating crew said in a statement, for making "a gesture to the crowd calling attention to himself."
Richt has looked at replays in the aftermath of the TD and did not see anything that appeared to be a penalty. He has not been led to believe something took place that wasn't captured on camera that could have drawn the flag. He said Green went directly to his teammates after the touchdown.
Richt said he plans to talk to SEC's coordinator of officials, Rogers Redding, about the penalty.
"Based on what I saw, I just need to be educated on what would constitute a flag for excessive celebration," Richt said. "I want to be able to educate our players in the right way so that won't happen to us again in the future."
Reach Marc Weiszer at marc.weiszer@morris.com.
SATURDAY'S GAMES
- Georgia at Tennessee, 12:21 p.m. (CBS-Ch. 12)
- Kentucky at South Carolina, 12:30 p.m. (Fox Sports Net)
- Georgia Southern at North Carolina, 3:30 p.m.
- Georgia Tech at Florida State, 8 p.m. (ESPN2)
Comments
The flag was wrong, plain and simple. All knowledgeable college football fans will agree on that. Now, was that one flag the reason Georgia lost the game, no. Can't fault LSU for doing what they had to do and making the best out of what was given to them. However, they were lucky to win that one. But that's the way the ball bounces.
UGA is not a top 25 team now nor will they finish inthe top 25. They're looking at a 7-5 season at the worst or an 8-4 season at the best. I'm a UGA graduate and fan, but the talent is not there and the coaching philosophies need work. I said nothing however about an overhaul "change" because the last time that idea was utilized a bunch of starry eyed morons voted Obama into the presidency.
Martinez should be gone.
Good I hope the STAY OUT... *UGH* Go LSU.
LSU ranked 4th before Saturday and came ever so close to defeat by 14th ranked UGA. GA dropped completely out of top 20, LSU maintained their 4th ranking. Where do you think Notre Dame or USC(alifornia) would be ranked today if they had gone in with a 3-1 record against a 4th rank team and lost similarily?
It becomes more obvious with each passing week that the people who vote in the polls never watch a game, they just watch the scores If Georgia almost upset #4 LSU and dropped out of the polls, how in the world should LSU who but for an unwarranted penalty (yes it DID cost the game because LSU obtained excellent field position because of the backed up kickoff) would have lost maintain their #4 ranking? UGA lost, they got a terrible call at a crucial point in the game, a call which makes one wonder about that official, but they still had an opportunity to wrap up that LSU runner and didn't do it. The rankings though don't make a bit of sense. And South Carolina, whom Georgia beat, enters the top 25? How absurd. Georgia kept the #4 team from the end zone most of the game and should probably either have stayed where they were or maybe even advanced in the rankings, but that didn't happen.
By the way, I agree that Martinez hasn't had the defense ready for most games and in this one the typical zone defense allowed way too many passes to be completed against the Dawgs, but when you come right down to it, the defense stepped up to the plate except that one and most important last possession of LSU.
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