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.

CJ Byrd doesn’t want to have to wait two weeks to help get Georgia back in the win column, but he realized after Saturday’s 41-30 loss to Alabama the Bulldogs could use a bye week right about now.
“I would rather play next week, but it came at a good time,” the senior safety said. “We’ve got a couple of injuries especially this game. Guys will get back healthy and get some rest and get stronger, so I think it came at a good time.”
Mark Richt on Sunday evening detailed the injury list which starts with star tailback Knowshon Moreno.
My guess is that we’ll see Moreno, but for now he’s questionable with an elbow contusion.
Linebacker Dannell Ellerbe (knee) looks more on the doubtful side. Tight end Tripp Chandler (shoulder) is out and receiver Kris Durham (ankle) is questionable.

Georgia tumbled as expected in the polls today.

The Bulldogs dropped eight spots to No. 11 in the Associated Press top 25 and seven to No. 10 in the USA Today coaches' poll after its 41-30 loss to Alabama Saturday night.

The Bulldogs are the second-highest one-loss team after Southern Cal in both polls after a weekend in which nine ranked teams lost including three of the top four.

Georgia is tied with South Florida (5-0) for No. 10 in the coaches’ poll.

The first Harris poll will also be released today.

The coaches’ poll, Harris poll and computer rankings go into the BCS formula to determine the two teams to play in the national title game.

Alabama moved up to No. 2 in the AP poll and No. 4 in the coaches’ poll.

Here’s the AP Top 25

Record Pts Pvs
1. Oklahoma (43) 4-0 1,599 2

We’re still about 45 minutes from kickoff, but Sanford Stadium already has tons of electricity in the air.

The lettering in the end zones is black with a white outline for the “blackout” game.

Georgia 2009 quarterback commitment Aaron Murray is wearing a Georgia blackout T-shirt and shorts on the sideline.

Nearly everyone in the stands and on the bridge—except those Alabama fans, of course--are in black. Scott Howard is entirely in black in the radio booth as he gets set to call the first home game Georgia will play without Larry Munson on hand since 1965.

It’s a big-game atmosphere on a day that started with ESPN’s College GameDay on campus this morning in Athens.

My favorite sign held up by a fan: “Mt. Cody? I’m hiding the Little Debbies.”

Also seen: “Richt 3:16” and “Nick Saban is the Devil.”

Sure, Southern Cal’s loss to Oregon State on Thursday night will pay immediate benefits to Georgia if the No. 3 Bulldogs knock off No. 8 Alabama Saturday night.

The bigger boost in the long run could be if the Bulldogs end the season as a one-loss team.

It will be easier for poll voters to put a one-loss Georgia team ahead of a one-loss Southern Cal team considering the Bulldogs’ rugged schedule and the Trojans’ loss to an unranked Oregon State team.

I’m not sure if an unbeaten Georgia team would have passed a top-ranked and unbeaten Southern Cal team that was rolling up impressive wins against weaker competition.

Now it’s a moot point.

On Georgia’s Thursday night bowling night, Southern Cal threw the gutter ball.

By the way, some Georgia assistant coaches traveled to Oregon State this offseason to huddle with staff there.

I wonder if Larry Munson gets paid for this.

AirTran Airways is offering 43 destinations for only $86 one way to honor the just retired Munson’s 43 years of service to Georgia calling games. The 86 is how old Larry will be after his birthday on Sunday.

Georgia’s coaching staff might want to grab one of those fares and go escape for a couple of days after Saturday’s tilt with Alabama.

That long trip to Arizona State last weekend is felt more by the coaching staff than the players, who got Sunday off after the overnight flight from back west.

Coach Mark Richt began sounding hoarse by midweek.

“I feel better than I sound but I am tired,” Richt said. “No matter what happens Saturday we have an open date after that.”

Georgia players will practice Tuesday and Thursday next week and lift weights and run the rest of the week.

Georgia is considering expanding Sanford Stadium to more than 101,000 seats in the years to come under a master plan presented at the school’s athletic board meeting Wednesday

They sure could use a stadium as big as Michigan’s Big House--if not bigger--for this weekend’s Alabama game.

UGA police have issued a counterfeit warning for a ticket scam for Saturday’s game between No. 3 Georgia and No. 8 Alabama after the LSU-Auburn game had a large number of bogus tickets sold.

Tickets are being sold at prime rates by online ticket brokers.

On TicketsNow.com, the average price is close to $400, the highest price for a college game this year. The top seats are going for as much as $642 with the less desirable seats at $256, according to an e-mail that hit my in-box.

Too bad Alabama is an SEC West team rotating off the Georgia schedule after this season because the Crimson Tide week again has some added spice this season.

Georgia closed down practices again this week to the media for the Crimson Tide. Just like last season.

“Uh-oh. Uh-oh,” cornerback Asher Allen said.

Allen was asked if Georgia has a top secret game plan or some trick plays.

“No, we’ve got some serious focus going on,” Allen said. “We ain’t playing.”

Truth be told, getting access to Georgia practices is more limited nowadays anyway.

Reporters get in on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for about two periods or 10 minutes of practice.

Not this week.

Georgia coach Mark Richt seems to be enjoying the lead up to the game.

Just got back a little while ago from the airport in Atlanta after the trip back from Arizona.

I was able to listen in to Mark Richt’s Sunday evening teleconference when he revealed the blackout is back against No. 8 Alabama on Saturday.

I actually was thinking about blogging that this could be the game before Richt revealed that it indeed is.

Thank goodness.

Remember Richt sidestepping questions last year leading up to the Auburn game about whether the team was going to wear black jerseys?

Here are some of my favorites:

"It's hard to order up jerseys in a week's time. That's kind of like impossible."

A day later.

“You can’t snap your fingers and do it.”

And a day after that.

"You're going to have to refer to any answer I've given to this point. That's my comment. I'm tired of the question, but I like everybody."

It seems we’ve heard this song before. Alabama’s Gov. Bob Riley has taken another opportunity to express his confidence that pharmaceutical company Solvay will pick the Yellowhammer state to build a $300 million plant to make flu vaccines, according to the Birmingham News. During a Wednesday press conference, Riley said he expects an announcement from Solvay within two weeks. Riley hinted at it back in April too. And he was scheduled to make an announcement last September. So what gives?

Solvay had narrowed its site selections to the Orkin tract, privately held land straddling Oconee and Clarke County along Georgia Highway 316, and an industrial park in Birmingham owned by the Jefferson County Economic and Industrial Development Authority.