Don't think the trip to the Outback Bowl is all fun and games for the Bulldogs. This is about redemption and respect.

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There's a clear message Georgia coach Jim Donnan wants his team to understand.

"We've got to win this game,'' Donnan said.

This was the season Georgia was supposed to make a serious run at Florida and Tennessee in the SEC East Division. By the end of the year, not only had the Bulldogs lost to Florida and Tennessee again, they also lost to rivals Georgia Tech and Auburn.

Not a good a sign for a team trying to return to the glory days at Georgia. A disappointing season has led to a sense of urgency for the Bulldogs.

"We're going down there and this is business,'' quarterback Quincy Carter said. ''We need a program win out of this bowl game so we can get some momentum going into next year. This season didn't go like we wanted it to go, and we had a lot of growing pains this year. This is going to be a big one for us. It's going to be a businesslike atmosphere. It's not going to be a bowl trip, it's a football game we're going to.''

Donnan is doing things completely different for this bowl game, steering clear of the what Georgia did in previous bowl victories over Virginia and Wisconsin in the last two years. The workouts leading up to this game won't necessarily focus on the younger players and redshirts, but instead will be geared toward getting the program back on course after losing three of four games to end the season.

Playing a team like Purdue, with all its offensive weapons, won't be easy -- which is why Donnan is making bowl practices so intense.

''We're going to have spring practice here. We're going to work hard,'' Donnan said. ''We've got to rectify some of our problems, so we're going to practice extremely hard before we go to Tampa and then down there. We've got problems we've got to overcome, and the only way I know to do it is to go full-speed, so we'll do a lot of contact and a lot of fundamentals.''

The Personnel File

CARTER STAYING: Carter flirted with the idea of leaving school early for the NFL, but decided against it a week after the season ended.

Carter was disappointed with this season, which led him to say he was keeping his professional baseball and NFL options open. But he has since decided to return for his junior season.

"My dream is to play in the NFL, but at the same time, you've got to think about things you want to accomplish in life," Carter said. "You only get one chance at winning the SEC championship or winning the national championship. It's a goal of mine, a goal of this football team, and I didn't feel like I'd accomplished enough to leave."

Carter and Donnan both looked into his NFL future in recent weeks, and learned that Carter might be a first-round pick, but questions centered around the fact that he didn't have enough game experience.

"He would have been a first-round pick, but where he would go in there was pretty much based on each team's need," Donnan said. "Middle to late first round is what we got from most of the people that we talked to."

WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR: The Bulldogs are hopeful that two-way budding star Charles Grant will be ready to play when fall practice begins in August. A defensive end/tailback, Grant tore the ACL in his left knee and will go through at least six months of rehabilitation. Grant was one of the SEC's top freshmen this season, and will have a more expanded role for the Bulldogs next season should he return completely healthy.

''It'll probably be five to six months of recovery, but they feel like they got a good, tight fit,'' Donnan said.

Noteworthy

ANOTHER DOOLEY: Derek Dooley, son of former UGA coach and current athletic director Vince Dooley, has been hired by new LSU coach Nick Saban to coach tight ends. Dooley was an assistant at SMU under former Georgia assistant Mike Cavan.

''I can't tell you how exciting it is to be back in the best conference in football,'' Derek Dooley said. ''LSU is a great place to coach. It's the only show in town and everybody knows about how exciting it gets in Tiger Stadium and Death Valley on a Saturday night. I can't wait to get started.''

An Athens native, Dooley played football at Virginia, where he participated in three bowl games and helped the Cavaliers to the co-ACC championship in 1989. He earned four letters at Virginia, and served as a graduate assistant at Georgia in 1996 before going to SMU in 1997.

JOINING QUINCY: Carter wasn't the only underclassmen considering leaving for the NFL.

Georgia's defensive tackle tandem of Richard Seymour and Marcus Stroud also decided to stay at Georgia. Seymour is a potential late first round/early second round pick, and Stroud is considered a mid-round pick.

"I've talked to both of them,'' Donnan said. ''They've both told me they're planning on staying, so I don't have any other thing to go by.''

A Look Ahead

Here's a glance at who the Bulldogs will have to replace in the starting lineup next season.

OFFENSE: Four. The Bulldogs lose G Steve Herndon and C Miles Luckie, and tailbacks Robert Arnaud and Patrick Pass. None of the four will have a major impact, with talented youth behind them. Jasper Sanks is one of the SEC's top backs, and will be the Bulldogs' feature back next season.

DEFENSE: Five. The Bulldogs lose three of four players from the secondary (SS Earl Chambers, FS Larry Mann and CB Jeff Harris), and DE Dustin Luckie and LB Orantes Grant. The losses in the secondary won't hurt much because all three were benched late in the season. Luckie and Grant were strong players.

SPECIAL TEAMS: One. Kicker Hap Hines was consistent but not spectacular, and finding a replacement won't be tough.