Tennessee linebacker Jason Mitchell chuckled as he related the dialogue from a Budweiser commercial featuring the character Leon, a pro football player who has an excuse for every situation.

"It's like Leon saying, 'My psyche got messed up,' " Mitchell said.

The question for Tennessee's players this week is whether their psyches are messed up by a four-game losing streak to Georgia. How much mental baggage will the Vols take into Saturday's game in Athens, Ga.?

Has Georgia coach Mark Richt gotten into the heads of the Vols the same way Florida coach Steve Spurrier did when the Gators were 7-1 against UT from 1993 through 2000? Georgia's recent domination of UT is fast becoming as frustrating for coach Phillip Fulmer as the Alabama series was when the Vols were winless against the Tide from 1986 through 1994.

If the thought of being snake-bit against a team ever occurred to the Vols, it may have been last year after quarterback Casey Clausen collided with fullback Troy Fleming and fumbled. Georgia's Sean Jones returned the fumble 92 yards for a touchdown to give the Dawgs a 20-7 lead en route to a 41-14 win.

Mitchell says the reaction at halftime was "shock." He knows there's as much truth as humor in Leon's line about a player's psyche getting out of kilter.

UT offensive coordinator Randy Sanders says the emotional impact of the fumble against Georgia was "kind of like getting a new puppy and dropping him out the car window on the way home.

"That may have been the biggest momentum swing I've been a part of,'' he says. "The only game that comes close is the Fiesta Bowl after the 1991 season. We were beating Penn State, and then in about five minutes it seems like three or four things happened in succession and we lost 42-17.

Richt, who is 3-0 against UT, says domination in a series can be a motivating factor for the losing team.

"In the beginning, when the series goes in the same direction, teams get mad,'' Richt said this week. "I think right now they're (Vols) pretty much in the mad stage."

Richt can empathize with trying to overcome a losing streak against a rival. He is 0-3 against Florida, and Georgia has lost six consecutive games in the series.

"When it comes as many times as it has against Florida, you don't know how to act,'' Richt said. "Should we act like we're not going to win, or we're going to win? How should we act?"

UT's losing streak to Georgia has been similar to the earlier slides to Florida and Alabama in that it has featured some bitter, contentious moments.

Alabama's Antonio Langham boasted about the Tide owning Tennessee. Spurrier needled quarterback Peyton Manning about playing in the Citrus Bowl.

The most testy moment of the recent Georgia-Tennessee series came in 2001 when some of the Bulldogs' players stomped on the power "T" at midfield in Neyland Stadium after Georgia won in Knoxville for the first time in 21 years.

Sanders doesn't deny that psychological factors can influence the outcome of a series. However, he says the Vols aren't haunted by the past.

"Emotion is a huge part of sports and a huge part of football,'' Sanders said.

"The positive psychology of playing well translates into emotion. Sometimes the negative psychology can translate into a lack of emotion. Or maybe you go in a game with emotion, but as soon as something bad happens, it like 'uh, oh.'

"I don't think we're to that point yet. I think this team has had a good mindset and I think we're still in a good mindset. If we make two or three plays against Auburn, or keep them from making two or three plays, it's a completely different ballgame."

Asked if there is a psychological aspect of the losing steak to Georgia, UT linebacker Kevin Burnett responded, "I don't know. I don't feel like we say, 'OK, we're going to lose the game. But one way or another we find a way to lose the game.

"We don't go out there and plan to lose. We feel like we can win every game. Sometimes it doesn't happen that way."

Corey Larkins, who switched from tailback to defensive back this week, was asked if the losing streak to Georgia had gotten into the heads of the Vols.

"Yeah, that's on our minds,'' he said. "That's on our minds, big-time. But that's not going to stop us from doing what we have to do."

Gary Lundy may be reached at 865-342-6274.