Thirty-nine points. That was the gap that separated Georgia and SEC champion Florida on the scoreboard in Jacksonville on Nov. 1.

If the Bulldogs are to make a run at knocking the Gators off their perch atop the SEC East in 2009, they’ll have to do it during a year when its nonconference schedule looks tougher than what the Gators have lined up before them.

Florida opens its schedule with home games against I-AA Charleston Southern and Troy (OK, they scared LSU, but also lost to La.-Monroe) and end it with Florida International of the Sun Belt Conference and Florida State in Gainesville.

Georgia, which could lose Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno to the NFL, opens at Oklahoma State, gets Arizona State (a 5-7 bust this year) at home and plays at Georgia Tech, which still will have Jonathan Dwyer, Roddy Jones and Josh Nesbitt. I-AA Tennessee Tech is a breather at home.

Looking for a silver lining?

The two teams that knocked Georgia out of the SEC and national title picture are on top of Mark Richt’s USA Today coaches’ poll ballot.

None of the 61 voters in the coaches’ poll ranked Alabama higher than Richt, who puts the Crimson Tide at No. 2 behind Florida.

Florida’s Urban Meyer ranks Georgia 21st, the lowest any coach put the Bulldogs on his ballot along with Fresno State’s Pat Hill.

USA Today has the ballots for all of the coaches online, the only time all season they are available for public consumption.

Oklahoma, Florida and Texas are ranked 1-2-3 in the poll and Southern California and Alabama are tied for fourth.

Richt ranked Georgia Tech 15th, one spot ahead of his own Bulldogs, who lost to the Yelow Jackets 45-42.

Georgia is ranked 17th in the coaches’ poll.

Shayla Worley surprised a lot of people when she signed with Georgia on Wednesday.
I spoke with Worley and Georgia associate head coach Jay Clark and wanted to share their thoughts with everyone.

Shayla Worley
“I’m really excited to be joining the Gym Dog team. I can’t wait.”

“On (Oct.) 28th, I made my decision. It was my mom’s birthday. It was a hard decision to make, but Georgia was just so superior in every aspect, from facilities to coaches to the girls and just everything. Georgia was just the best of all the trips I took. I had a good time there on my trip. It was fun.”

Many people though Worley would go to Florida since she is from Orlando.
“A lot of people are really surprised. Even now when I tell people I’m going to Georgia, they’re like, ‘Wow, really?” It’s definitely a surprise for other people.”

Georgia wasn’t the only team to have a first half onside kick backfire in the last week.

You think the Bulldogs’ second-quarter try against Florida was living on the edge? Well, the Pittsburgh Steelers opened their game with Washington Monday night with an unsuccessful onside kick that the Redskins turned into a field goal.

The Steelers went on to win 23-6. Georgia wasn’t as fortunate.

Blair Walsh’s onside kick was recovered by Florida, which extended a 7-3 lead to 14-3. The Gators won 49-10.

Georgia coach Mark Richt said he made the decision to do the onside kick on Thursday before the Florida game and told the staff.

“You study film enough to say this has really got a very good chance, and you’re trying to grab momentum and trying to take the first swing so to speak,” Richt said.

Some perspective on all of those points scored against Georgia the past two games.

The 87 combined points given up to Florida and LSU the past two games is more than Georgia allowed against Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Arizona State, South Carolina, Central Michigan and Georgia Southern combined. Ouch.

No wonder the Bulldogs have dropped to 10th in the SEC in scoring defense, allowing 23.4 points per game after Florida's 49-10 woodshed game. They are ninth in total defense at 306.4 yards.

“We’re not happy,” defensive coordinator Willie Martinez said. “Believe me, it’s embarrassing sitting there on the sideline. We’re not a 49-point team. I felt the same way about the Alabama game.”

The Crimson Tide ran out to a 31-0 lead after a momentum-killing early roughing the passer penalty. Florida scored 35 straight second half points after an 88-yard interception return.

Corvey Irvin knows what you are thinking.

That Georgia didn’t live up to what you expected this season.

Certainly not that 31-0 hole Georgia fell into against Alabama in a 41-30 loss and the 49-10 beatdown by Florida.

“I figure nobody respects Georgia right now,” the Bulldogs defensive tackle said Monday. “They’ll probably say we were a fluke, that we were just the No. 1 team in the preseason, but hey, we can go make a statement against Kentucky. Let’s see if we can get our swagger back.”

Irvin said Georgia can’t let the loss divide the team and have players begin to point fingers.

Players and coaches have pointed to the four turnover second half as when the game got away from Georgia, but Irvin sensed the locker room was a dead zone at halftime.

Georgia coach Mark Richt raised the demands of Georgia’s beefed-up schedule when talking on his Sunday teleconference in the aftermath of the 49-10 loss to Florida Saturday.

“Both of our games where we didn’t play extremely well came off of long road trips that were pretty emotional games,” Richt said. “It’s just the way our schedule went.”

A 27-10 win over what looked like a good Arizona State team on Sept. 20 was followed the next week by falling into a 31-0 hole against Alabama and a 41-30 loss. Georgia got back at 7 a.m. after the trip west.

Georgia had an emotional win against defending BCS champion LSU Oct. 25 and then came the blowout loss to the Gators a week later.

“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.”

Welcome to an overcast Jacksonville Municipal Stadium. The teams just finished warming up on the field and are on their best behavior so far. Of course, the game hasn't started.
OK, a few pregame thoughts and notes.
--One Florida native is honoring another today.
Wideout Michael Moore is wearing the No. 26 today of injured receiver Tony Wilson, a Daytona Beach native who is out of the season with an ankle injury.
--Georgia will need to tackle much better today than it did last week against LSU and running back Charles Scott last week.

Just went trick or treating with a trio of 4-year-old boys who dressed as Spiderman, Transformer (Bumblebee) and Superman (the actual guy with a cape, not Tim Tebow). I think almost every little girl in the neighborhood was dressed as a princess.
I can confirm that not all of Athens has emptied out for that game in Jacksonville on Saturday. That was obvious tonight and by the hour and 20 minutes or so I waited for advance voting today at the Board of Elections office downtown.

We are hitting the road bright and early to make the drive to the game.

A few Bulldog related items for you:

The anticipation for Saturday’s Georgia-Florida game isn’t just about which team is going to take a gigantic step towards securing a spot in the SEC championship game.

Rivalries always bring added emotion. Throw in Georgia’s end zone celebration from last year that Florida hasn’t forgotten and it could make for a combustible atmosphere Saturday in Jacksonville Municipal Stadium.

Remember, Georgia got an unsportsmanlike penalty and a facemask penalty after its two unsportsmanlike penalties for the celebration last year. Florida was flagged for three personal fouls and unsportsmanlike conduct in the game.

Georgia coach Mark Richt said Thursday he isn’t worried about anything happening between the teams during pregame warm-ups or a slew of personal fouls.