ATHENS, Ga. — The memory is not a fond one for anyone on the Georgia football team — and especially not Bacarri Rambo.

The last time they played in this high profile of a game, when it was also at the Georgia Dome, the Bulldogs were overmatched by Boise State. And Rambo, a junior safety, could do nothing on the sideline, serving a suspension.

“It grates on me a lot,” Rambo said. “I probably could’ve helped change the outcome of the game.”

That loss, televised nationally and hyped for almost a year, was the most recent time that a large chunk of the nation got an impression of Georgia. Three months later the Bulldogs return to the Georgia Dome on a 10-game winning streak, but with only two of those wins coming over FBS teams with a winning record.

So here’s the central question as Georgia prepares to face No. 1 LSU in the SEC championship: Just how different is this team from the one that was beaten convincingly the first time around in the Georgia Dome?

“Totally different team from the first game in the dome,” senior cornerback Brandon Boykin said. “Just everybody has a lot more experience, be able to play in that environment and know what it’s like to play in the big game.”

Coach Mark Richt has said several times that Georgia “wasn’t ready” for that game against Boise State. Georgia began the Georgia had five first-time starters in the opener. That doesn’t include freshmen Isaiah Crowell (Carver High) and Damian Swann, two freshmen who saw extensive playing time.

Sophomore quarterback Aaron Murray said he thinks the younger players will be “more equipped for the big game.” Boykin compared the opener to a bowl game.

“It’s your first college game for a lot of those guys, and then the magnitude of it being in the Georgia Dome and against a top five team. It doesn’t really give you a chance to get adjusted,” Boykin said. “It’s like the SEC game, a big bowl game right in the beginning of the year, your first game. So a lot of people were nervous and kind of had to get adjusted to the game type situation of a college football game.”

Georgia’s defense, which now ranks fifth nationally, was also without two of its best player for most of the game.

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Rambo, who leads the SEC with seven interceptions this season, was out the entire game. And inside linebacker Alec Ogletree broke his foot on the third series. Boise State did not score on its first two series.

“I can’t really say how much of a difference I might have made in the outcome,” Ogletree said. “But the first two series that I played in, I felt like our defense was doing pretty good.”

The offensive line looked like a disaster in the making against Boise State, yielding six sacks with only one player (center Ben Jones) starting at the same position he was at last year. But the front five improved as the season went on.

Georgia has also seen several players develop into big-time players:

Outside linebacker Jarvis Jones (Carver High), who leads the SEC with 13.5 sacks, didn’t get one until the fourth week of the season. He’s a redshirt sophomore who had played in the Dome in high school, but he may not have been fully comfortable in his role until later.

Inside linebacker Mike Gilliard, who stepped in for Christian Robinson in the second game, now leads the team in tackles. He barely played against Boise State.

Nose tackle John Jenkins saw few snaps in the opener, but has found his way and helped the defensive line become dominant.

Murray also pointed to turnovers as an improvement. Georgia only had one against Boise State, but had three against South Carolina, including the deciding one when Murray was sacked and fumbled.

Defensively, Georgia forced one turnover by Boise State, two by South Carolina, but has averaged 2.4 turnovers forced since then.

“Just those little mistakes here and there, I think we’ve cleaned up since those first two games,” Murray said.

Still, the fact remains that the schedule has been much easier.

Georgia has not faced a team the caliber of Boise State, or even South Carolina, since then.

Now it gets another chance, in the same building, to prove it’s not a product of its schedule.

“We’ll definitely be ready to play,” Boykin said.

LSU’s defense will limit the big plays from Georgia, but Aaron Murray is scorching, having thrown for the second most TDs in the country in the month of November (Murray, 14; Barkley, 15).

He still must take shots down the field against one of the most electrifying defenses in the nation. LSU is relentless with aggressive defensive backs that will be taking plenty of shots to harass Murray and his receivers.

The biggest factor will be on how much of an impact Isaiah Crowell and Richard Samuel IV make. If UGA cannot run the ball, this game could get ugly. But the Bulldogs have one of the best lines in the country, and the two backs are studs when close to being 100 percent. (Both are expected to play; Crowell is more likely).

LSU has arguably the best offensive and defensive line out there, but Jordan Jefferson has helped the offense improve every week. Three different backs can tote the rock for LSU, and assuming they win the battle of field position, they will find a way to win another fine game in Atlanta.

Drama’s Pick: LSU 24, Georgia 17

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ATLANTA — It was Georgia tight end Orson Charles who first grabbed the giant black school flag, waving it for cheering fans Saturday. Eventually the flag found its way to Brandon Boykin, a senior cornerback who ceremoniously planted it at midfield.

The crowd soaked it up, as Georgia’s players lingered for a while at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

Those expecting a muted celebration after a 31-17 win at rival Georgia Tech were obviously mistaken.

But Georgia is enjoying the moment.

“When we started 0-2, you set your goals like, ‘Hey we’re gonna win your next 10,’ ” senior center Ben Jones said. “And it came true.”

“I know a lot of people want to say we haven’t played anybody,” offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said. “The bottom line is to win ballgames. To be 0-2 and face as much criticism as this team did and really negativity surrounding the whole program, to really come together as a whole group and say, ‘We’re gonna play hard for each other’ is impressive.”

In the other locker room, the 25th-ranked Yellow Jackets had to take stock of a regular season that finished at 8-4 after they won their first six games.

Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson gave credit to the Bulldogs, who got four touchdown passes from Aaron Murray, pulling away in the third quarter.

“They did a nice job protecting the quarterback; we didn’t get to him too much,” Johnson said. “Any time guys get that open, at times we turned a couple of guys loose in coverage, especially crossers. A couple of times they just beat us. That touchdown in the third quarter, we knew that play was coming, and they still completed it.”

There were two of those third-quarter touchdowns, so it wasn’t certain which one Johnson was talking about. But Georgia’s receivers were so open throughout the day that it could have been any number of plays.

Murray’s four touchdowns all went to different receivers, and a fifth receiver (Charles) was the team’s leader in catches and receiving yards. Part of it was necessity: Leading rusher Isaiah Crowell was ruled out with an ankle injury. But part of it was also opportunity.

“I just felt after the first drive that we had some guys open,” Bobo said. “I felt like we could throw it on them. I knew we could protect. After that drive I said, ‘We’re gonna open it up.’ ”

Murray now has 32 touchdown passes this season, tied for eighth in SEC history. The record is held by Kentucky’s Andre Woodson, who had 40 in 2007.

But the Georgia defense played its part. It defended the triple-option well, especially in the third quarter. Georgia Tech, which entered the game ranked second nationally with 323 rushing yards per game, finished with 243.

“We didn’t want them to get outside of us,” said Georgia outside linebacker Jarvis Jones, who added to his SEC-leading sack total with one. “We wanted to try to push it back in the middle, make them run it up the middle, where our interior and inside linebackers were.”

Then when the offense got rolling, Georgia Tech started passing — and the result was two straight drives that ended with interceptions. Mike Gilliard had one early in the third quarter, and then Shawn Williams had another — turning around and making a leaping catch, which set up a touchdown to make it 31-10.

“That goes back to the same old philosophy, is force them to do things they don’t want to do,” Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham said. “That gives you a chance to make some plays.”

Now the Bulldogs can officially turn their attention to No. 1 LSU, the opponent in this week’s SEC championship game. Georgia is expected to be a big underdog to the Tigers, who may get a spot in the BCS championship game regardless of the result.

But in returning to the Georgia Dome, where Georgia’s season began with a convincing loss to Boise State, the Bulldogs already have accomplished something.

“We’re still on the journey, so I’m not really reflective right now,” head coach Mark Richt said. “I know we’ve got more work to do. I know we’ve got more things to accomplish. I know we’ve got two more ballgames. Right now I’d just like to keep my focus.

“Some of the guys don’t like that much. Like Orson, he’s always like, ‘Coach you’re too serious. I worry about you.’ And even after this game I didn’t do a lot of celebrating after this game.”

Charles definitely celebrated Saturday.

“It meant so much,” Charles said. “We had three championships we wanted to win. We won last week, we clinched the SEC (East). We won the state. And now we got next week, to compete against LSU.

“So waving the flag was just a celebration to all our fans. We’re giving due to them, thanking them for hanging in there, even though we started 0-2, a little rough. We started bouncing back. I just felt that was time to say thank you.”