From the locker room

Here's some quick reaction from Georgia head coach Mark Richt following his team's 43-0 rout of Vanderbilt.

"A shutout in any level of football is not easy to do, and I'm really proud of not only our defensive coaches and players, but the entire team," Richt said. "Because you don't get a shutout if you throw a pick-six. You don't get a shutout if you fumble it on a kickoff return, you don't get a shutout if you don't play really well, all the way around our football team.

"But the majority of the credit goes to our defensive coaches, led by coach (Todd) Grantham, and our defensive players, to really play the game the way it should be played. I'm really proud of them."

- Richt on the team:

"It looks like we're playing a little better. It looks like we're playing with a little more passion ... We're improving. I thought we were improving when we were losing. But hopefully we'll keep going and keep getting better."

- The team knew Carlton Thomas (who had two touchdowns) would be able to play on Thursday.

"I wasn't really interested in playing Ken Malcome for just a short amount of time," Richt said. "And then Caleb comes back and Carlton gets healthy and all that kind of thing. More than likely we won't play Ken unless we absolutely have to. I think he was happy it turned out that way too."

- Last week it was Boss Bailey, the honorary captain, ripping into his former team. Despite coming off a win, ex-players Thomas Davis and Geno Atkins also came back and delivered rousing speeches before the game.

"I didn't have to say a word, I just said 'Let's go' when he was done," Richt said.

- Richt addressed the use of the three timeouts early in the first half.

The first came because of a substitution error. The second was the result of having the wrong play called for the personnel grouping, which Richt called a "mix-up."

The third one, taking the field goal off the team so they could go for it, Richt said "that was me, just deciding."

Richt later sort of made light of the situation, when talking about a possible replay of A.J. Green's near-catch in the end zone at the end of the half.

"I didn't have a timeout anyway, so I couldn't do anything about it," Richt said, to laughter.

(You can afford to make light of that when you win 43-0.)

- While they rotated on the offensive, Richt said the starting five is looking good. Josh Davis and Chris Davis played a lot, especially Josh Davis.

"But the starting lineup we like," Richt said. "It takes a little pressure off of Gates, (and) I think it takes a little pressure off Sturdivant not to have to play every snap."