Georgia’s laundry not a concern to Tide

ATHENS, Ga. — There are enough crucial aspects of Georgia’s football team to occupy eighth-ranked Alabama’s attention for 60 minutes tonight.

Quarterback Matthew Stafford, tailback Knowshon Moreno, tall, fast wide receivers Mohamed Massaquoi and freshman A.J. Green and tight end Tripp Chandler provide offensive weapons that will stretch and test the Crimson Tide defense.

Linebackers Rennie Curran and Dannell Ellerbe are two of nine starters back on a stingy Georgia defense. Safety Reshad Jones and cornerback Asher Allen are playmakers in the secondary.

The jersey color the third-ranked Bulldogs will wear tonight — it’s a blackout game, where players and fans will wear black — is nowhere near the top of the list. But it has been a subject of discussion in both camps this week.

Alabama coach Nick Saban sounded underwhelmed by the uniform change.

“They have good football players; that’s what we’re concerned about,” Saban said. “We’re not really concerned about how they dress or what the uniform might be. And I don’t think our players should be concerned about it, as well.”

That message was quickly relayed to the players.

“Coach Saban said it best. Stuff like that only means something if you make it mean something,” Alabama left guard Mike Johnson said this week. “Whether they’re wearing black or pink, they still have to come out and play the game. It matters who is in the jersey, not what’s outside their body.”

Players on both sides said black jerseys aren’t going to affect the outcome. But the Bulldogs are looking forward to it.

“The black jersey gets the fans involved,” Massaquoi said. “It kind of gets everybody excited leading up to the game. But more importantly, we still have to go out there and prepare. The black jerseys are not going to win the game for us. We still have to be out there playing as hard as we can.”

Crimson Tide defensive end Lorenzo Washington, who went to high school in the Atlanta area, considered Georgia wearing black jerseys a compliment.

Georgia played Auburn and the Sugar Bowl against Hawaii in black last year.

“Honestly, I feel privileged,” Washington said. “I think it is awesome last year when they did it. Stuff like that, it will make the atmosphere even more great. It is going to give it another huge game feel ... on ESPN and all that type of stuff. It’s going to be awesome.”

Alabama cornerback and return specialist Javier Arenas said both teams would bring plenty of swagger to tonight’s game. But the black jerseys don’t qualify.

“That ain’t no swag; that’s uniforms, man,” Arenas said. “They wear their black jerseys and that’s what they do, but that doesn’t affect your performance. What your mindset is, that’s what affects your performance. But that’s them, that’s what they do, and I respect it.”

Alabama defensive end Bobby Greenwood said the Bulldogs will be tough in all phases of the game.

“We definitely have to affect the quarterback, and we definitely have to stop the run game,” he said.