“Every time we were in pads (during bowl practices), we were tackling to the ground every time,” said Richt, who estimated the Bulldogs played in pads for one-third of the team’s 15 practices in anticipation of No. 19 MSU and Ringer. “It’s going to be tough. We battled more times in practice during our bowl practice sessions than we did the entire season.”

After starting the season strong against the run, holding opponents to an average of 52 rushing yards per game in the first half of the season, Georgia faltered down the stretch. Rock bottom came in the Bulldogs’ season finale, when in-state rival Georgia Tech utilized its option ground attack to pound out 409 rushing yards and five touchdowns en route to a 45-42 victory.

While the No. 14 Yellow Jackets found success against a porous Georgia front, Richt said the one-game debacle was the result of poor tackling and not poor execution of schemes.

“The biggest problem we had is we didn’t wrap up,” Richt said. “We tried to knock people down and we tried to knock people out of bounds in some very key moments, so that was our biggest culprit, that we did not fundamentally do well when it came to tackling.”

With a blend of intense practices and several days off to heal nicked up players, Richt’s game plan against MSU’s ground game could come to fruition.

“Our goal is to slow them down enough not to let it get out of hand when it comes to them rushing the football,” he said.

Keeping focused in Orlando
It’s not a secret that the Bulldogs didn’t have dreams of playing in Orlando on New Year’s Day. The national preseason No. 1 team wanted to be playing one week later for the national championship or in another Bowl Championship Series game.

Yet for the disappoint that came with a 9-3 finish, Richt said he hasn’t seen a letdown by his players in preparation of MSU.

“I don’t think there’s ever been a game in my eight years at Georgia where the guys didn’t take it seriously,” Richt said.

“I think you get wounded and you get hurt when you don’t meet expectations or you don’t win certain games that you’re hoping to win — and we expect to win every game, really — so you’ve got to be disappointed, but I’ve never seen guys throw it in the tank at all.”

With the Georgia Tech game still lingering and a bright future ahead for 2009, the Bulldogs are looking at Thursday’s game with two goals in mind — sending seniors out with 10 wins in 2008 and 40 wins as a class as well as getting off to a fast start for next season.

“I don’t think those two ideas conflict at all because in both of those scenarios, you’re both looking for the same result from this game, and that’s a victory,” Richt said.

Injured expectations
With pundits and fans searching for reasons why the Bulldogs lost three games in 2008, Richt admitted injuries caught up to his squad.

In 2007, a season that culminated with a 41-10 blowout of Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl, only one Georgia player suffered a season-ending injury. One season later, 22 Bulldogs have been lost for the year at some point during the season. Richt said he will be without 28 players due to injury in Orlando, including 16 that likely would have seen playing time and seven that would have likely been starters.

“It’s been a real issue,” Richt said. “But I’m not crying and in some ways we’re blessed because more guys are getting opportunities and they’ve proven they can play and maybe feel better about themselves.”

With the multitude of injuries and scaled back practices, Richt acknowledged the Bulldogs weren’t running at their full potential on Saturdays.

“When the season ended and you start looking back and you say why didn’t we tackle better or why didn’t we do this or that better, we didn’t practice like we usually do,” Richt said.