Georgia coach Mark Richt told his players to "represent the G" on their helmets. They did that Saturday, albeit against a 1-AA opponent. (Brant Sanderlin/bsanderlin@AJC.com)

ATHENS — With no drama, limited glory and those throwback helmets and jerseys from yesteryear — both were red — the Georgia Bulldogs reacquainted themselves with a forgotten corner of the universe Saturday. They dominated an opponent.

Now, maybe an SEC team beating Tennessee Tech 38-0 doesn’t prove a whole lot, except possibly what you hoped did not need reaffirming: The Dogs would rule in the Ohio Valley Conference.

But with the season having veered off in that unfortunate direction toward Shreveport — and what was the Capital One Bowl doing with press box credentials, anyway? — and ugly losses to Florida and Tennessee in the rearview mirror, and blogs, message boards and sports talk radio morphing into giant blast furnaces, is there even a trace of solace knowing that this team still has a pulse?

“It …

I took this two hours before the game. Not sure how many of these seats will remain empty.

ATHENS — Georgia returns to Sanford Stadium today. Is anybody home?

I mean that in two ways. First, there’s a lot of speculation as to how many empty seats there will be in Sanford Stadium today. The reasons are fairly obvious: 1) The Bulldogs are 4-4 and possibly headed to a third-tier bowl; 2) The opponent is Tennessee Tech, which generally isn’t detectable even with radar. The fact it’s homecoming and parents’ weekend for several of the fraternities and sororities seems like an afterthought.

I’ll post a comment after the game starts to let you know about the crowd size, if you’re interested.

As for the team — well, aren’t we all a little bit curious what Georgia looks like today?

This week included coach Mark Richt suggesting starting freshman Aaron Murray with an eye toward next season would be “like quitting.” He then dismissed any speculation that he was too nice, as if his

With this guy running things, are the Minnesota Vikings as good as the New Orleans Saints right now?

As is usually the case when somebody or some team so obviously sits at the top, we start looking for blemishes. So for about 10 minutes this morning, I convinced myself that the New Orleans Saints were starting to show their weaknesses. Their defense looked very average the last two weeks against the Falcons and Miami. Their offense really wasn’t all that dominant (relatively speaking) in a home game against a beat-up Atlanta defense. And maybe the Minnesota Vikings were better.

Then I looked at the numbers and the moment passed.

Here are this week’s NFC rankings, with little change at the top. The Falcons are still hanging in the top 10 despite consecutive losses, primarily because nobody behind them is doing anything, either. (Last week’s ranking in parenthesis.)

1. (1) NEW ORLEANS (7-0): They beat the Falcons by eight points (35-27) but didn’t cover the spread (10). So …

Before revealing this week’s absolute financial locks, not to be confused with some previous absolute financial locks that I was only joking about, which you would have realized had you only sent me the $49.95 for our pre-season, “Ignore These Picks and 100 Recipes with Mayonnaise Code Book,” we have some news.

A Florida mail man was found passed out in his delivery truck this week, drunk with a blood alcohol level somewhere between .264 and a blowtorch. The man told police he drank wine all night and then, I’m not making this up, a half-bottle of mouthwash to cover up the smell. What

That's not a victory cigar in his mouth.

followed, of course, were lowered inhibitions, “special delivery” pick up lines, hitting on every passing woman, Chevy and Labrador, and something about turning over play-calling to Sherman Lewis, who was last seen at a bingo game in a senior’s center.

Hey. Does Dan Snyder deliver the mail?

This week, the Falcons play the remains of the Washington …

Despite consecutive losses and a 4-3 record, Thomas Dimitroff says he has a good feeling about the Falcons. (Curtis Compton/AJC)

One year ago, the Falcons were 4-3 and coming off a road loss to an NFC power (Philadelphia). This was due at least in part to a flawed performance by their young starting quarterback, Matt Ryan (two interceptions, two sacks, 68.1 passer rating). Next on the schedule was a punch line: Oakland.

This week, the Falcons are 4-3 and coming off a road loss to an NFC power (New Orleans). This is due at least in part to a flawed performance by their young starting quarterback, Matt Ryan (three interceptions, three sacks, 46.6 passer rating). Next on the schedule is a punch line: Washington.

Now, this isn’t to suggest we’re about to witness another 7-2 run to close the regular season. But here’s the question: If we didn’t know what to expect last season when the season played out like a fantasy, why is everybody panicking now?

General manager Thomas …

Florida's Brandon Spikes decided his coach's half-game suspension wasn't enough.

Brandon Spikes deserves some credit. He just righted a wrong by his own coach.

Spikes was suspended by Florida coach Urban Meyer for only the first half of Saturday’s Vanderbilt game after television cameras in last week’s Georgia-Florida caught him trying to eye-gouge Bulldogs running back Washaun Ealey. But the firestorm of negative publicity and resulting pressure led Spikes to announce Wednesday he is going to sit out the whole game.

“I really don’t want to be a distraction to the team,” Spikes told Florida reporters after practice Wednesday. “I want the guys to prepare without any negative things going on. I feel like if I was playing it would be a big thing. … I’m just trying to stay out of the way and motivate the guys. I’m pretty sure the staff has got may back and my teammates really support me on this decision.”

Basically, Spikes is doing what Meyer wouldn’t: He is accepting …

The Braves are hoping baseball writer Bill James is right about Jason Heyward. (Ed Gardner/Mississippi Braves)

I would imagine when Braves general manager Frank Wren starts his day, he doesn’t think, “Before I call another general manager this morning, let me see what Bill James thinks.”

But here we go.

James, the ultimate baseball numbers geek, who has written a couple of dozen books and is a senior adviser for the Boston Red Sox, projects that Braves’ prospect Jason Heyward — who has played only three games at the Triple-A level and none in the majors — will hit .303 with the Braves next season. This and other projections are in the “Bill James Handbook 2010,” excerpts of which were emailed to me.

Quoth James in his book: “In any season, the vast majority of players play in a manner that seems a natural

Rookie Jordan Schafer didn't quite cover his face in shame. But close.

extension of what they had done before. When that happens, our projection should be reasonably …

This photo was taken the day after the Falcons-Saints game at "Bozo's" restaurant in Metairie. It comes to us from reader "Ted Striker," via his friend in New Orleans, "Denver Bird."

The Falcons are not necessarily dead in the NFC South race. But they’re 4-3 and three games out with nine games left. The New Orleans Saints  are 7-0 and seemingly have only three difficult games left on their schedule: Patriots, Cowboys, Falcons. So let’s just say something unexpected has to happen.

Other than Reggie Bush’s little slip up last week, the Saints have done a good job not overreacting to the 7-0 start and tempering the we-can-go-unbeaten talk. They have an easy reference point. The only other time they started 7-0, they went 4-5 in the final nine in 1991, and then lost in the first round of the playoffs (to the Falcons).

No, I didn’t peek. I wrote that before I saw that Drew Brees said this: “There are a lot of things we can improve on. You’ve seen teams in the past,they go through …

Mark Richt needs to realize that the Georgia program can't survive on autopilot any longer. (Brant Sanderlin/bsanderlin@AJC.com)

ATHENS — Smart coaches don’t go to sleep one night and wake up the next morning dumb. They don’t suddenly design bad plays, or create bad game plans, or recruit bad players.

They don’t suddenly forget how to prepare and motivate a group of young men (even if at times seemingly way too much energy is being spent worrying about the color of their helmets or jerseys).

Mark Richt is not dumb. He did not wake up one recent morning less of a football coach than he was when he led Georgia to two SEC titles. But by now he probably has realized something: He has to change. His methods have to change. Everything that might affect direction and atmosphere has to change.

Richt did not wake up dumb. But he did wake up to find the Bulldogs no longer rank as an elite program in the nation. Or in the SEC. Or in the state.

Things got too comfortable. The program has …

Mark Richt will not look toward 2010 season in 2009.

ATHENS — There are enough things that Georgia coach Mark Richt is being criticized for these days. So I figured this would be a good time to tell you something he is doing right: sticking with Joe Cox at quarterback.

What’s important to remember here is that this is college, not the NFL (even if the line between the two is somewhat blurred in the SEC). It’s common for pro teams in any sport to start playing younger athletes late in wasted seasons to prepare for next season.

Sorry. It’s different on a campus. And it should be.

It’s different when you have senior players who may never step on a football field again after this season. If Richt started a freshman quarterback, believing he’s not ready but ostensibly to get him ready for next season, the coach basically would be telling his players, “We really don’t care about these last few games.”

Richt did a better job articulating this at his weekly news conference Tuesday …