Monday Morning Quarterback: The Tech Game

Josh Kendall's look at the Good, the Bad, and the Notable from Georgia's win over Georgia Tech.

The good: The anemic offense under backup quarterback D.J. Shockley in the third quarter of Saturday’s game is not a preview of the future, Richt insisted. “I don’t think it’ll be quite that frustrating,” he said. “We’ll make it a lot more conducive for (Shockley) to have success.” The Bulldogs may dust off the fast break offense that Richt ran at Florida State with Charlie Ward, where Ward spent most of his time in the shotgun because Richt said Sunday he will have to see if Shockley is more comfortable in the shotgun or under center. He also said there will be designed quarterback running plays in every game plan next year. There were none in Saturday’s game plan because the Bulldogs expected starter David Greene to play most of the game.

The bad: Defensive standouts Thomas Davis and Odell Thurman have backed off their two-week-old statements that they are leaning toward staying in school. The juniors both said after the Georgia Tech game that they will consider their options after the bowl game. “Honestly, I don’t know (what I’ll do),” Thurman said. Davis insisted he wasn’t backing off his former statement and said he thought his mother would push him to stay in school, but he did talk about the future. “I feel like I would definitely have to be a top 15 pick (to leave),” he said. “Anything other than that, and I can come back and improve on it.”

The injuries: Richt had no updates on Greene’s fractured left thumb as of Sunday evening, but he said he’s “hopeful” Greene will be able to play the team’s bowl game. He isn’t so sure about running back Danny Ware, who broke his hand in Saturday’s game. “Ware could play with cast, but that would be difficult for a guy who has to hang onto the ball,” Richt said. Wide receiver Fred Gibson (hip pointer) and fullback Jeremy Thomas (eye) are expected to be back in time for the beginning of bowl practice.

Notable: Richt is not a coach who considers bowl practices merely an early start on next season, he said, but he will let some young players get a little more work in the coming month. “It might be wise to let them scrimmage a little bit ... not a lot of it but maybe the last 20 minutes of a practice,” he said.

Next: The Bulldogs are expected to play in a January bowl game but won’t know their destination until Dec. 5, the day after the SEC Championship Game. The most likely destination appears to be the Outback Bowl, in which the Bulldogs would play Wisconsin. The Capital One Bowl against Iowa and the Cotton Bowl against Texas also are options.