The hard part is over for Georgia in the regular season. The SEC East has been won, and its ticket has been punched to the SEC Championship Game.

There is some unfinished business still, Saturday’s nonconference game against UMass and next week’s in-state showdown with Georgia Tech (6-4).

UMass is an FCS school with a 4-7 record, with its only wins against Duquense, Charlotte, UConn and Liberty. They are no match for the Bulldogs, so it’s just a matter of going through the motions.

Sort of.

“I’ve told you all every week that it’s not about Florida, it’s not about Kentucky. It’s not really about them,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart told reporters Monday. “It’s just about how we work, because we worry about us. And that way when you get to this week, it’s not different. And we focus on us.

“I think that’s leadership. I think we’ll find out a lot about our team this week because it’s never about who we’re playing.”

The players agree.

“We approach every week the same, so there is nothing different about preparing for this game,” senior inside linebacker Juwan Taylor said. “Every week is the same for us, we prepare the same way for every opponent, no matter who we play.” 

But what needs to be a little different this week is sitting guys when necessary so they can get healthy. Especially along the offensive line, this team is beat up. An extra week to recover wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Left tackle Andrew Thomas and center Lamont Gaillard have been banged up for a while, and last week freshman Cade Mays (shoulder) and Kendall Baker (shoulder) missed time. Guard Ben Cleveland, who missed five games with a leg injury, came back last week and will be needed now down the stretch.

“Ben played in the game the other night when Kendall came out, and he feels better each and every day,” Smart said. “Not sure yet on Kendall, when he’ll be back. Same thing on Cade Mays, he’s going to be day to day.

“We may be looking at both of those guys having work to do to get back.”

Cleveland suffered a broken left fibula in the 43-29 win at Missouri on Sept. 22, and last Saturday’s Auburn game was his first appearance back. We’ll probably see more of Cleveland this week because he could use the work.

It’s going to be important to get everyone healthy because, let’s be honest, what matters is being as healthy as possible for the Dec. 1 SEC title game against No. 1 Alabama. So it’s going to be interesting to see how the offensive line rotations work out.

It’s also interesting to see what, if anything, they do with running back D’Andre Swift. He spent most of the first half of the year fighting off injuries, but he’s been great the past three weeks, rushing for more than 100 yards in all three games.

“I don’t know why people didn’t think he was good early in the year, he was dinged up some early, and he also has got an offensive line that’s blocking their tail off,” Smart said. “At the end of the day, D’Andre is a really electric, explosive runner. He’s really good out of the backfield catching the ball.”

He is, but he’s also not really needed this week. Maybe giving him a little more rest this week would be good.

Taking it easy next week really isn’t as much of an option because it’s Georgia Tech, and it’s a rivalry game. So this is the best week to get everyone as healthy as can be.