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.”

Another September Georgia football game appears headed for a live television broadcast.

Look for an announcement this week that FSN South will show Georgia’s Sept. 6 nonconference home game against Central Michigan. Kickoff would begin shortly after 3:30 p.m.

The regional sports network has a reach of more than 12 million homes on cable and satellite in seven states in the Southeast. It last showed a Georgia football game in 2004 against Georgia Southern.

Central Michigan has won the Mid-American Conference title the past two seasons.

With the Central Michigan game airing, all of Georgia’s games in September will be on live TV.

The Sept. 13 SEC opener against South Carolina will be shown on CBS at 3:30 p.m. The Sept. 20 game at Arizona State is slated for 8 p.m. on ABC and the Sept. 27 game against Alabama was a priority selection for ESPN.

Many of Georgia’s freshmen football players will roll into campus next month to begin working out with their teammates and get a jump start on classes.

I decided to make the easy drive over to Jefferson on Friday to try to spot some of them at the state track and field championships.

Turns out others had the same idea to be where future football talent was on display.

I ran into former Georgia defensive back and running backs coach Kirby Smart, who was decked out in Alabama garb. He's now the defensive coordinator for Nick Saban. Georgia wide receivers coach John Eason and defensive coordinator Willie Martinez were there, too.

Bainbridge’s Nick Williams (who said he’s 6-3 and 206 pounds) looked nearly physically ready to play in college now, but believes another year will do him wonders.

Catching up on some odds and ends from the past couple of weeks.

I was struck by the recruiting dance that Georgia assistants Mike Bobo and Stacy Searels had to go through to get a commitment last week from offensive lineman Austin Long from Memphis, Tenn.

Long told me that Bobo and Searels watched him lift weights at the school, but Long had to wait until he had left before calling to give his non-binding verbal commitment.

“We can’t really talk to the coaches right now,” Long said. “After I left, I called Coach Searels on the phone. I called and told him I wanted to be a Bulldog. I can call them, but they can only call me once a month.”

The NCAA evaluation period runs from April 15 to May 31. Coaches can’t have contact with recruits off campus and they can call a recruit only once during the recruiting period. Recruits can call coaches as often as they want at their expense.

Thank God for Congressmen Lynn “10 Commandments” Westmoreland, R-Georgia (corrected from original version); Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii; and Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, who are making sure our country’s priorities are in order. Never mind the challenges of Iraq, our economy, our education, our environment. Gasoline and food prices, health care issues, crime all take a back seat to what is most important --- the NCAA football national championship as determined by the Bowl Championship Series.

Westmoreland, the man who pushed for legislation to post the 10 Commandments in the U.S. House of Representatives and in the Senate but couldn’t remember the 10 Commandments when asked by the insightful Stephen Colbert, now has found a new cause.

Greetings from Nashville, where Darryl Gamble (with some help from Reshad Jones) may have turned around Georgia’s football season back in October against Vanderbilt.

I’m blogging from my seat on press row at the Sommet Center at the SEC women’s basketball tournament. Georgia plays tonight here against Kentucky at 7:30 ET in the quarterfinals.

Right now the joint is filled with Tennessee orange and a smattering of LSU purple. It’s a pretty decent crowd.

Pat Summit’s Lady Vols play Florida in today’s second game. LSU is beating up on Ole Miss 66-27 with under seven minutes to play.

So Georgia would get LSU in the semifinals, but it better step it up later today after a lackluster showing last night against bottom-feeder Alabama.