Mark Richt isn’t downplaying Georgia’s No. 1 ranking, he’s embracing it.

The Associated Press media members ranked the Bulldogs No. 1 Saturday. Just like the coaches who vote in the USA Today coaches’ poll.

Instead of saying it’s how you finish that matters, the Georgia coach took a different approach with the dual No. 1 rankings.

“To me, I can’t think of any other word than just `excitement,’” Richt said after a Saturday morning practice. “I think it’s exciting for our program that people feel that way about us. It fires me up. There’s a lot of responsibility that goes along with it, but let’s face it, the football world thinks we’ve got a shot and they are holding us in high esteem right now. We need to do everything in our power to keep it there.”

Georgia’s schedule includes six ranked teams: No. 5 Florida, No. 7 LSU, No. 10 Auburn, No. 15 Arizona State, No. 18 Tennessee and No. 24 Alabama. South Carolina is just outside the top 25 at No. 26.

Only 10 teams that were ranked AP No. 1 since the poll’s inception in 1950 have won national championships: Southern California (2004), Florida State (1999), Florida State (1993), Oklahoma (1985), Alabama (1978), Oklahoma (1975), Oklahoma (1974), Oklahoma (1956), Michigan State (1952) and Tennessee (1951).

It should be fun to see if Georgia can be No. 11.