ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

Georgia coach Mark Richt said it best earlier this week: How many more self-inflicted wounds can the Bulldogs endure?

They’ve been the last one standing each of these last two weeks, sort of like one of those old-school boxing matches where the two fighters stagger to the middle of the ring for the 15^th round.

The Bulldogs might not be staggering yet (OK, maybe they are when they have to play pass defense), but they will be across the board if they keep this up for a few more weeks.

You simply can’t win every game 40-something to 30-something in the SEC.

It makes for great television and is exciting to watch.

But it’s not conducive for being there at the end when the conference race is decided or when the bigger bowl bids are passed out.

The Bulldogs, coming off a 52-41 win over Arkansas, have to find a way to play closer to their talent level on defense, particularly against the pass.

It’s not a talent issue on defense. There are multiple players on that side of the ball for the Bulldogs who will be playing in the NFL at some point.

For whatever reason, Georgia just hasn’t played with a lot of confidence or any swagger when teams throw the ball, which probably explains why the Bulldogs have forced an SEC-low two turnovers in three games.

The offense and special teams haven’t helped the defense much, either, when it comes to taking care of the ball. Georgia has turned it over nine times, which ties Tennessee for most in the league.

“We’ve put our defense in short field situations over eight times in three ballgames,” Richt said. “That’s too many. You hope to not have eight in an entire season, much less in the first three games.”

It’s difficult for any Georgia fan not to look at the ugly defensive numbers and grimace at this point. The Bulldogs are last in the league in total defense and scoring defense and the only team in the league giving up 400 yards per game.

But they’re also 2-1 despite playing as poorly as they have against the pass and despite being nagged by the kind of mistakes (turnovers and penalties) that usually get you beat.

The resolve this team has shown the first three weeks is what’s so heartening for Richt heading into these next two home games against Arizona State and LSU.

He equates this team with a train that’s just now starting to get rolling.

“I think we’ll roll a lot faster if we don’t have those two anchors out the back of the caboose that are stuck in the ground and dragging behind us, and that’s our turnover ratio, which is very poor, and our penalties have cropped up on us,” Richt said. “If we can just cut those anchors loose, we’ll fly even better.

“If we can just improve in those two areas, I think everything will improve.”