Wednesday Practice Report

FOOTBALL

The Dawgs held a two-hour practice Wednesday as they continue getting ready for another SEC contest with Tennessee.

“All the work is pretty much done with the pads on,” said coach Mark Richt. “We’ll have a glorified walk through Thursday and then Friday we’ll take off for Knoxville.”

Georgia (3-2, 2-1 SEC) trails in the all-time series with UT 21-17-2 including 11-8-1 in Knoxville. The Dawgs are 3-2 under Richt in Neyland Stadium. The home team has won four consecutive games in the series.

The Volunteers (3-1 overall, 0-1 SEC) have cruised through the early part of their season with just one league contest, a 33-23 loss at No. 16 Florida. UT’s wins have come over Montana, Cincinnati and Buffalo, scoring 40-plus points in each of those home games. The month of October should prove to be much tougher with games against the Dawgs, LSU, Alabama and South Carolina.

One area to watch Saturday will be third down conversions. The Volunteers are tied for the national lead with Wisconsin with a 62.1 percent conversion rate on third downs. Meanwhile, the Dawgs are second nationally on defense when it comes to third down efficiency at 25.4 percent. UT has converted 36-of-58 third downs this year while the Dawgs have allowed only 18-of-71 conversions.

“We’ve worked on third down stops, and so far it’s been one of our strengths,” said Richt. “As Coach Todd Grantham likes to say, ‘getting them off the field.’ Execution is the key and the big difference this year for us.”

Richt announced that on Saturday the Dawgs would have a special helmet sticker with the initials “KDF” for Kim Figgins, the mother of senior fullback Bruce Figgins who is battling breast cancer.

“Bruce’s mom is doing well, and we wanted to do something for her and everybody who is dealing with any type of cancer to show we care about them and they are in our prayers,” said Richt.