Monday Practice Notes (10/27)

OK, so these aren't really Monday practice notes since there was no practice today. UGA has a Regents exam today that many of the football players were scheduled to take, so the Bulldogs held practice on Sunday instead. These are some notes from that practice session, with quotes collected by Doug Stutsman. I was eating beef jerkey and drinking gas-station coffee in a car somewhere near Montgomery, Ala. at the time.

-- Jeremy Lomax isn't ready to call the problem solved, but he's happy to have the monkey off his back.

Georgia's defensive ends hadn't recorded a sack against an SEC team all year, but managed two against LSU's hefty offensive line Saturday. Lomax shared a sack with Jarius Wynn, while redshirt freshman Justin Houston also recorded one.

"It was a good feeling," Lomax said. "It took like four or five games to happen, but it feels really good."

Lomax is one of several defensive ends to play through injuries this season. The senior has battled a turf toe injury since fall camp. Houston and Wynn have also had various bumps and bruises, but the pass rushers are finally starting to get healthy, Lomax said. The return of Rod Battle to the lineup after missing three games with a neck injury has also been a key to the Bulldogs' improvement.

"We've been dealing with a lot of injuries all year and now the ends are getting healthier," Lomax said. "Coach (Willie) Martinez did a lot more four-man rush last game, and I think that shows confidence in us."

With Florida's high-octane offense looming this week, however, Lomax said the Bulldogs can't rest on their laurels after the two-sack performance against LSU.

"We got to use last game as motivation but the rush still isn't there like it should be," he said. "We blitzed (Florida) a lot last year. We got a game plan for this year to stop (quarterback Tim Tebow) and that's what we got to practice this week."

-- It was Georgia's big plays that keyed its win in Baton Rouge, La. last Saturday, but linebacker Rennie Curran worries the big plays the Bulldogs allowed will be their undoing this week.

While Knowshon Moreno, Matthew Stafford and the Georgia offense posted big numbers on the scoreboard, and Darryl Gamble returned two interceptions for touchdowns on defense, LSU managed to post some impressive numbers of its own. The Tigers became the first team to throw for more than 300 yards against Georgia in nearly a year, while running back Charles Scott added 144 yards on the ground.

That's something Curran said needs to get fixed this week against Heisman winner Tim Tebow and the Gators' offense, and it starts with doing the little things right.

"We didn't do the best job of getting off blocks and staying on tackles," said Curran, who had a team-best 14 tackles against LSU. "Knowing the playmakers they have, we've got to stay in our game fundamentally. We got to keep things simple. We got to play fast but be disciplined at the same time. The coaches are going to put us in the right position, and we just gotta let our abilities take over."

-- Following his arrest on DUI charges, defensive tackle Brandon Wood missed last week's game against LSU. Georgia's athletic association policy required a one-game suspension, but head coach Mark Richt said the sophomore will sit out this week against Florida, too.

"He will not play this week," Richt said. "He's going to miss one more game because of the situation he got into. He'll be back for the next game after that."