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Georgia tries to respond from defeat vs. Vanderbilt

Oct 10, 2006 - 11:15 PM Vanderbilt (2-4) at No. 16 Georgia (5-1), 12:30 pm EDT

ATHENS, Georgia (Ticker) - For a second straight week, Georgia will be hosting a Southeastern Conference opponent from the "Volunteer State." This one does not have quite the pedigree as the last one.

The 16th-ranked Bulldogs look to bounce back from a stunning defeat Saturday when they host Vanderbilt, a team they have dominated.

Last week, Georgia (5-1, 2-1 SEC East) blew a 17-point second-quarter lead here and came up well short against Tennessee, 51-33.

"We are on the rebound following that loss," Georgia coach Mark Richt said. "We have found some things that we are in the process of addressing. More than anything else we just want to continue to get better. There will not be a lot of personnel changes. We just need to work hard on getting better this week."

Mikey Henderson had an 86-yard punt-return touchdown and Thomas Brown tied a school record with a 99-yard kickoff return for a score for the Bulldogs, who had yielded a national-best 6.8 points per game entering the contest.

Georgia certainly will be pleased to be facing Vanderbilt, a team it has defeated 11 straight times to tie its record winning streak in the series. The Bulldogs won last year in Nashville, 34-17, behind three touchdown passes from the departed D.J. Shockley.

Vanderbilt (2-4, 0-3 East) came up short at Mississippi last week, 17-10, after committing six turnovers and missing a pair of field goals.

Mackenzi Adams was intercepted in the red zone on the game's final play for the Commodores, who have lost their three SEC games by a combined 12 points. Adams took over late in the first half for Chris Nickson (sore thigh).

"I think (Nickson) will be OK," Vanderbilt coach Bobby Johnson said. "He has a sore thigh. He got a deep thigh bruise with a helmet hit and there was just no way he could come back and do in the second half what he did in the first half. He was playing very well. He was 11-for-13 at the time. He was running the ball well, he was making good decisions and that certainly hurt our chances."