You’ve been reading a lot of this kind of sentiment this week. Chip Towers mentioned it earlier in the week. David Hale started a good conversation by noting that the players themselves seemed “reserved” during this game week.

OK, I sense it too. People are dragging. I admit that instead of wanting to get right back after it following the Alabama game, I was grateful for the bye week. The Arizona trip took a lot out of me personally, and it was even an adjustment for the players and coaches. Maybe we’re all still just shaking it off.

Anyway, it’s pretty clear that both the fans and team need something good to happen to snap them out of it. A win is what we’re after, but what’s really needed is that same energy and enthusiasm the fans and team had in Tempe. If you had to look to one guy to deliver that energizing bolt, I can’t think of anyone better than Knowshon Moreno. A highlight-reel run early in the game from the player who challenges physics with his perpetual energy would be the wake-up call we’ve been needing since late September.

Who, me?

If you want a stat to watch Saturday, Tennessee is last in the SEC in first downs generated. They’re next-to-last in third down percentage. The Vols are averaging fewer than 16 first downs per game. Alabama had five on their first drive against Georgia alone. I’m not as big of a detractor when it comes to the Georgia defensive coaches and scheme as others, but Georgia’s not likely to see a better chance of putting up some three-and-outs. If the Vols show the ability to drive and convert third downs early, Georgia’s in trouble.

I’m disappointed that Walter Hill had to be dismissed from the football team, but another Georgia coach is probably thinking he dodged a bullet. Hill was not only a football standout at East Hall; he was also recruited for basketball and had to choose between the two sports. Richt’s dismissal of Hill made the news of course, but imagine how many hand-wringing columns we’d be subjected to if Hill were the latest player dismissed by Dennis Felton.

The folks in Tuscaloosa are no doubt enjoying yesterday’s news from Auburn, but I can’t help but think back to Gameday at Alabama last September and all of the signs making light of Auburn’s slow start. Wouldn’t it be hilarious if after all this Auburn managed to extend the streak for one more year?

I’ll be disappointed in the Georgia student section if there’s not at least one pterodactyl reference on Saturday. Maybe the guys who paint themselves can spell out Veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek along the front row.

Knowshon Moreno was held to 30 yards in Knoxville last year, and he put up just 34 against Alabama two weeks ago. Quick starts by opponents in both of those games did the job of taking Georgia’s running game out of the picture. Nothing would make me happier Saturday than an opening drive by Georgia similar to what we saw in Jacksonville last year.

Nice – reporting the firing of Tony Franklin wasn’t enough; the Auburn media had to channel their inner TMZ and circle around while he cleaned out his office.

There are several challenges on defense this week. The loss of Ellerbe is high on the list. I’d also like to see a good game from Rashad Jones. Eric Berry is the star in the UT secondary, but Jones was just as big of a prospect. He’s shown us glimpes of great athleticism at times, but he’s nowhere near the consistent menace that Georgia needs patrolling the middle of the field. An inexperienced sophomore QB making his first road start should be like blood in the water to the Georgia secondary, but it’ll take better safety play to take advantage of the opportunity.

What happened to the Tennessee offensive line? This was supposed to be one of the more veteran lines in the SEC, and it should be one of the bigger advantages for UT on Saturday. The results so far though haven’t been all that good, and they’ve given up just one fewer sack than Georgia’s young patchwork line. They’ve been unable to get the running game going. Maybe I’m still stung from seeing Foster and Hardesty drag Georgia defenders around last year to the tune of 190 rushing yards, but I’m still concerned about this matchup whether or not Rod Battle is able to go for Georgia.

The great Tony Franklin experiment (his Troy team put up some yards on Georgia, you know) is over at Auburn. We get little information about how Auburn’s offense will change other than “(Coach Tommy) Tuberville plans to take a more active role in the Tigers’ offense the rest of the way.” It has to comfort Auburn fans that a head coach known for his defensive expertise will be the one with a bigger role in the offense after chasing off accomplished coordinators like Borges and Franklin.

If I were Arkansas, I’d watch Bobby Petrino’s movements very closely this weekend when the Razorbacks visit Auburn.

First, go read this post by David Hale. It’s one man’s opinion, but he’s at practice, speaks with the players and coaches, and his take seems reasonable even if it raises some unpleasant questions.

This is the part that stood out to me:

I think this speaks to a real issue for the Bulldogs. Mark Richt has often said that if a team is coach-driven, it is destined to fail. If it’s player-driven, you have a much better shot at winning. It sounds like Georgia has been pretty coach-driven so far this year.

It’s something that I’ve been wondering about since the Alabama game. At some point during the 31-point meltdown in the first half, you’d hope or expect someone on the sideline would start lighting a fire under his teammates. Those with better seats than mine have said it didn’t happen, and Hale’s cautious observation that "there just aren’t a lot of loud voices coming from the players" doesn’t do much to convince me otherwise.

Leadership is more than ranting and raving of course; he who screams loudest and throws the most chairs isn’t necessarily your best leader. Leadership-by-example is nice too, but it’s overrated. You can play your tail off and still be a Class A jerk whom no one wants to follow.

While I was thinking about this very thing last week, a single quote from last season came right to mind.

"Coach, you are the key. You have got to keep it going."

It’s a quote from an anonymous player during halftime of last season’s Florida game. Mark Richt "was whipped" – exhausted – after an emotional first half, but the players were feeding on his energy and needed him to sustain it as long as he could if they were going to finish the job.

Mark Richt’s conscious transformation last season was one of the highlights of Georgia’s 2007 campaign. It was refreshing, entertaining, and – most of all – necessary. It grew from a reaction to the lack of energy and enthusiasm he sensed during the ugly loss at Tennessee. The players loved it, the fans loved it, and Georgia ripped off seven straight wins to end the season.

But here we are now on the eve of another game with Tennessee, and the leadership question has reared its head again. While no one has grounds to complain about the results after Richt stepped into the leadership void last season, I have to ask whether the players are still stuck waiting for Richt to be the one who does something.

Rennie Curran spoke in depth about accountability and how players have been slow to claim the leadership roles that should belong to them. "Somebody will make a penalty or somebody won’t make a play, and it’s kind of like we just let it slide by, nobody will say anything," Curran said. The good news is that Curran claims that the team has improved in this area over the bye week. Still, is it something that we can expect to get fixed in two weeks? A team’s chemistry and leadership – especially among the players – is forged year-round, and it’s just as important in July as it is in October.

There will be some who take the comments of Curran and others and conclude that Georgia is adrift, not watching film at all, and completely unprepared to play. Let’s not go down that road – this is a very good team, they’ve already won some quality games, and they have a very solid staff who knew to push these buttons over the bye week. Curran and Lomax are among those who have recognized a problem, and at least they’re attacking it now while the season’s goals are still very much within reach.

Ramone Johnson and Darius Myers have been suspended for Tennessee’s next two games “for lack of academic effort and violation of team rules.”‘

Neither is a starter, but Johnson has played in every game this season as a reserve left tackle.

pwd has good thoughts up about the uncertainty surrounding the Vandy kickoff time. At this point, it seems to be between ESPN at 8:00 p.m. and Raycom at 12:30 p.m..

The decision is ESPN’s, but that doesn’t mean UGA won’t have input. As Paul notes, pressure to select UGA for the earlier kickoff will come from several directions. Any other game and I might give the 8:00 kickoff a shot even with the administration’s distaste for night games, but with Homecoming in the balance I don’t see it.

Basically, you don’t ask these people to be at a game that ends after 11:30 p.m. That’s not a shot – a late night is a real consideration for many fans, and Homecoming is the one game where those considerations weigh more than they usually do. There are pregame and postgame events scheduled (and prepaid) that involve everyone from individual fans to Greeks to entire schools of the University.

It’s going to be a big game, and the need for a great home crowd can’t be understated. Unfortunately that’s not exactly the hallmark of a typical Homecoming crowd. The question is to what extent the administration will allow that typically casual Homecoming day to be altered to serve the team’s need for a crowd that’s involved in the game. Let’s just say that I’ll be pleasantly shocked if that happens.

Georgia Southern (3-3) —

Central Michigan (3-2): CMU had a heartbreaking loss to Purdue that many of us watched in Tempe, but the Chippewas have won a pair of MAC games by the skin of their teeth to remain undefeated in conference. They return from a bye week to host an improved Temple. THIS WEEK: Temple

South Carolina (4-2): After some ugly home wins against Wofford and UAB, quarterback Chris Smelley stepped up and led the Gamecocks to a nice 31-24 road win at Ole Miss. That improved passing attack will get a big test this week in Lexington as they’ll face a Kentucky defense that was effective against Alabama. THIS WEEK: @ Kentucky

Arizona State (2-3): A blocked field goal against UNLV started ASU on a three-game losing streak, and now Rudy Carpenter is injured and questionable. The good news? There is none. This weekend’s trip to USC was billed preseason as a possible Pac-10 title game between last season’s co-champions, but the Trojans are now 25-point favorites. A likely loss at Southern Cal will have the Sun Devils at 2-4, 1-2 in the Pac-10, and playing out the rest of the season hoping for a bowl of some significance. THIS WEEK: @ Southern Cal

Alabama (6-0): And after the sixth win, they rested. Bama got a small scare from Kentucky last week, but the game wasn’t that close. Alabama’s defense was as good as it’s been all year, and they THIS WEEK: BYE

Tennessee (2-3): Jonathan Crompton has given way to Nick Stephens, and the sophomore will make his first road start at Georgia. THIS WEEK: @ Georgia

Vanderbilt (5-0): The fact that Vandy is a significant road favorite for an SEC game this week pretty much says it all. They’re winning ugly, but they’re winning, and every week we get another one of these "first 3-0 SEC start since the Reformation" milestones. Mississippi State has had a rough go of it so far, but they did put up a respectable result against LSU. Will they make the mistakes on which Vandy has feasted in the rest of their conference wins? Just wrap your head around an SEC road game being called a possible "trap" game for the Commodores. Will they have to go to the second-string QB for the third straight game? THIS WEEK: @ Mississippi State

LSU (4-0): Maybe it was the weather screwing around with their September schedule, but considering that they’re the defending national champion and in the Top 5, isn’t it odd how under the radar LSU seems at this point in the season? Most Georgia fans have seen relatively little of LSU. Their one high-profile game – a thrilling win at Auburn – coincided with our game at Arizona State. Charles Scott has been a consistent rock in the backfield as the new quarterback comes along, and of course the defense is pulling its weight. No more hiding this week; yet another SEC game with national implications takes place in Gainesville. THIS WEEK: @ Florida

Florida (4-1): The Gators once again turned to the model established in the Miami game: get out to a small lead, hold off a lesser opponent with good defense, and pour it on late. They had few problems with Arkansas and are feeling pretty darn good about themselves at the moment. If there was one area of concern, Michael Smith had a nice 133-yard game for Arkansas and was able to find room up the middle several times. The Gators are getting some bodies back to help shore up the interior, but their run defense will get a bigger test against LSU. With a bye week looming, Meyer can afford to pull out all the stops for a very big game. THIS WEEK: LSU

Kentucky (4-1): The Wildcats put up a good showing at Alabama, but the Wildcats continue to have big questions on offense. Two of the best defenses in the SEC go at it this weekend in Lexington, and Kentucky just doesn’t have the firepower to respond if they find themselves down again. You just don’t see a lot of points being scored in this game, but South Carolina’s improvement in the passing game has to worry UK fans in search of the team’s first SEC win. THIS WEEK: South Carolina

Auburn (4-2): Big problems on the Plains. Auburn’s offense can’t get out of first gear, and the defense can only do so much. It looked as if Ben Tate was more than enough to beat Vandy, but he was a non-factor down the stretch. Clearly folks aren’t happy with the Tony Franklin experiment, and things aren’t much more clear than they were last week when everyone declared the spread era over at Auburn. The good news is that most any team can get a feel-good win against Arkansas. I wonder if many Auburn fans will look across the sideline and wonder what life would have been like had the Petrino deal worked out in 2003. Things are shaky at Auburn but not Arkansas bad. THIS WEEK: Arkansas

Georgia Tech (4-1): Tech continues to put up winning results against some pretty plain competition. Last week the defense held off Duke long enough to get the offense going, and a 3-0 game in the third quarter turned into a 27-0 final. THIS WEEK: Gardner-Webb. Seriously.

Overall it looks like a good Saturday for the Georgia fan to get some work done around the yard. The college schedule has some decent offerings to pass the time, but there are no must-see games this week. As always, the complete TV listings for the day are over on nationalchamps.net.

• Noon: Duke @ Georgia Tech, ESPN-U. Yeah, I know. Can you believe one of these teams will be 4-1?
• 12:30: Florida @ Arkansas, JP. Meh. Should be over quickly. If it is, check out Penn State over on ESPN until the 3:30 game.
• 3:30: Kentucky @ Alabama, CBS. Kentucky can play some defense this year, and can Alabama keep it up?
• 3:30: FSU @ Miami, ABC.
• 6:00: Auburn @ Vanderbilt, ESPN. This game will get the hype, but I can’t promise much excitement. Look for lots of defense with plenty of ugly and a few big plays turning the game.
• 8:00: Ohio State @ Wisconsin, ABC. Unfortunately, most of Georgia won’t get the more interesting game – Oregon @ Southern Cal. Put the Big 10 game on if you have trouble falling asleep.
• 9:00: Missouri @ Nebraska, ESPN. If you haven’t seen Chase Daniels in action yet this year, watch some of this game. The Huskers should be up for this one, and it will be an interesting test for the Heisman front-runner.

The South Carolina @ Ole Miss (2:00) and Northern Illinois @ Tennessee (7:00) games are PPV. South Carolina seems to be part of ESPN’s GamePlan this weekend while the Vols are not.

It’s bad enough when your team gets it handed to them at home. It’s even worse when that loss possibly cost you a chance to be better in the future.

California prep quarterback Josh Nunes withdrew his commitment from Tennessee after witnessing the home crowd turn on the Vols during their lopsided loss to Florida a few weeks ago. Nunes has now committed to Stanford. He maintains that the crowd reaction wasn’t part of his decision, but Andy Staples’s column sheds a little more light there.

Meanwhile, Georgia fans are getting praise for how they handled the 31-0 halftime deficit.

But what shocked me more was the dialogue that was occurring between the Georgia announcers. They were talking about the standing ovations that the Georgia fans were giving the team as they went into and came out of the halftime locker room. According to one announcer, he had never been so proud of the Georgia fans in all his years of broadcasting Bulldogs games.

I admit that I was waiting to hear a chorus of boos as the halftime whistle sounded. To be sure, there was some booing. But the overall positive reaction of the crowd in Athens was noticed not only by pundits and fans of other schools but also by some very important prospects that were in town.

“Even when Georgia got down, they stayed with them,” said Florida athlete Denard Robinson.

“The fans were great the whole time,” said defensive end Neiron Ball. “They stayed around, they kept supporting their team, and I really liked that.”

Georgia’s own high-profile quarterback commitment, Aaron Murray, was on campus along with teammate and tight end prospect Orson Charles. Their experience was also positive.

Look, I’m not going to pretend that Georgia fans are that far away from Tennessee fans. Maybe we were too stunned to boo. We’ve certainly seen our share of ugly behavior at Sanford Stadium, and many of us can recall that the reaction at the 1999 Auburn game (after a very similar first half) probably cost us any chance with Jason Campbell.

For one night though, Georgia fans did their part to keep the damage to the program limited to the field on Saturday night. I was as amazed as anyone at how the fans stayed in the game. When Prince Miller scored, you’d have thought that Georgia had tied it up. It’s unfortunate that the defense couldn’t get a stop after that punt return; instead, Alabama ate up the first five minutes of the 4th quarter and kicked a field goal that put the game away.

Let’s not make a habit of it, though. I don’t know that the Dawgs want to see how far they can push the goodwill of the fans, and another 31-point half most likely wouldn’t get the same response.

Earlier this year we noted that Alabama and outgoing Duke AD Joe Alleva were working to move Alabama’s 2010 game against Duke to the Georgia Dome. That was then.

New Duke athletic director Kevin White is making it clear that the game will be played at Duke’s Wallace Wade Stadium. “The 2010 Duke-Alabama game is our home game,” White said.

Interestingly, White was on the other side of this issue just months ago while he was still the athletic director at Notre Dame. A proposed series between Notre Dame and Rutgers fell through because Rutgers would not agree to move their home game off-campus.

Are the Blue Devils leaving money on the table? Almost certainly. Wallace Wade seats 33,941, less than half of the Georgia Dome’s capacity. If Duke is wise about this, they’ll make Alabama tickets only available as part of the season ticket package and hopefully make up some of the difference. There’s also a missed opportunity for recruiting; there are already four players from Georgia committed to Duke for the 2009 signing class.

Duke officials feel that the attention due to a major program coming to town will more than make up for the lost revenue and exposure in Georgia. “Wallace Wade hasn’t hosted a game of that magnitude in a very long time,” (Duke assistant AD Gerald) Harrison said. “I think the SEC game will do wonders for us.”

Alabama will be the first SEC team other than Vanderbilt to visit Duke since Tennessee in 1956.

A third of the way into the 2008 season, no fewer than five SEC teams considered to be at least marginal contenders for the conference title are facing big questions about their offenses.

Whatever offense Auburn runs, don’t call it the spread. "We don’t run Tony Franklin’s spread offense," coach Tommy Tuberville acknowledged. "You can’t put a square peg in a round hole." Auburn has a quarterback controversy, the spread took a back seat during the Tennessee game, and offensive coordinator Tony Franklin is feeling the heat.

Meanwhile, Tennessee will use this weekend’s game against Northern Illinois to experiment with the quarterback position. Starter Jonathan Crompton hasn’t been playing as well as he practices, and backup Nick Stephens "likely will see playing time" against NIU. Crompton has taken criticism for poor decisions and turnovers, and coordinator Dave Clawson doesn’t exactly give a ringing endorsement. "It’s not like we’re in a rhythm now so it’s not like you’re disrupting something that’s going really well."

Steve Spurrier and staff are "coaching just as hard as we did, you know, 10 years ago, eight years ago," but the struggles of the Gamecock offense relative to a stellar defensive performance to date are raising frustration levels. South Carolina has used three quarterbacks this year, and the starter for Saturday’s trip to Oxford probably won’t be named until Thursday. Spurrier laid into his offense after they failed to light up the scoreboard against a bad UAB team. "I told our guys I don’t see how some of you guys look in the mirror sometimes after the performance you played.," he said. "The effort level and the way they played is sad."

Things aren’t rosy at Georgia either. Injuries are taking their toll especially at tight end where former starting left tackle Kiante Tripp is getting work. Injuries to starter Tripp Chandler and reserve Bruce Figgins have forced the Dawgs to play redshirt freshman Aron White and move Tripp from the offensive line, his second position move in a year. The situation is serious enough that it might even require the Georgia coaches to evaluate the role of the tight end in the offense. In addition to the crisis at tight end, Knowshon Moreno is banged up, receiver Tony Wilson – Georgia’s best blocker on the perimeter – is out for the year, and Kris Durham will miss a few games. At least Brannan Southerland is back.

Even Florida isn’t immune from questions about their offense. Injuries on the offensive line, turnovers, and a critical fourth down failure have resulted in no shortage of suggestions on how to get the Florida offense back to its gaudy greatness. A running game that doesn’t center around Tim Tebow still hasn’t emerged. Let’s bow our heads…

LSU might argue, but is the conference’s best offense currently in Tuscaloosa? It sure looked like it.

Tony Barnhart beat the "every week is a playoff" drum yesterday and echoed some very familiar themes. But his rundown of the remaining schedule results in the damnedest "playoff" I’ve ever seen.

On one hand is Georgia:

vs. No. 19 Vanderbilt, Oct. 18; at No. 3 LSU, Oct. 25; vs. No. 12 Florida Nov. 1 in Jacksonville; at No. 13 Auburn, Nov. 15.; vs. No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 LSU or No. 13 Auburn in SEC championship game.

On the other hand is BYU:

at No. 15 Utah, Nov. 22.

How do I get me some of that seeding for this playoff?

Barnhart (and others) do the regular season a disservice by trying to conceptualize the season as a playoff. The regular season is many things, but a playoff isn’t one of them. Georgia and Florida and Southern Cal might be eliminated after one loss, or they might not be, and it all could depend on the fortunes of Oklahoma and Penn State – two teams who won’t even play each other. Someone want to draw up that bracket?

With so many of the top teams playing each other, it sounds a lot closer to a relegation league.