ORLANDO, Fla. – Michigan State has had plenty of time to hear about Georgia’s receiving unit.

They are also well aware that both Mohamed Massaquoi and A.J. Green are less than 100 yards from reaching the 1,000 yard mark for the season.

“It’s been a month of studying those guys day in and day out in practice,” Michigan State safety Otis Wiley said. “We read the stats and watched them on film and they’re very talented.”

For the season Green has 951 yards and Massaquoi has 910. Both have eight touchdowns.

Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford talked about Massaquoi’s performance this year, and said he felt his senior receiver hasn’t received his due.

“I don’t think this guy gets enough credit for what he’s done with the entire receiving corps,” Stafford said, pointing at Massaquoi. “As much heat as they were catching two years ago, the way he’s turned it around with the attitude and physical nature – blocking downfield. It’s why Knowshon [Moreno] has had so many big runs. They’re going over the middle and making big catches. Not to mention getting along with A.J. and teaching him little things about how to be a receiver at this level.”

With that said, Stafford hopes he can get Massaquoi his 90-plus yards to get him over the 1,000 yard hump.

“He’s been extremely consistent this year and had a great year and I’ll try to get him the rock and get him 1,000 yards,” Stafford said.

Massaquoi then glanced at Stafford and chuckled slightly.

“Yeah, I’ll remember that,” he said, smiling.

Cornerback still searching for Mickey

Even though he’s been in Orlando since Dec. 26, cornerback Asher Allen still hasn’t seen Mickey Mouse.

“I still haven’t seen Mickey Mouse, man,” Allen said. “I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to say, it ain’t the same right now.”

When asked if he was going to continue to look for Mickey, Allen said it wasn’t only going to stop there.

“I’m looking for him and if Minnie’s out there, I’m looking for her too.”

Irvin must ‘step game up’ if defensive end doesn’t play

Irvin said that if defensive end Demarcus Dobbs isn’t ready to go on Thursday against Michigan State, he and others must raise their level of play to get a defensive push in the trenches.

Dobbs hasn’t been completely ruled out, but has a sprained ankle and has been on crutches the last couple of days.

“Losing Dobbs, he’s 50/50 right now,” Irvin said. “We don’t know if he’s going to play or not. But losing him would be a big factor, a big hurt. He’s a special part of our defense. If we lose him, the other guys, including myself, have to take responsibility to step my game up, to play for me and him both. If he’s not coming off the end, then I have to get more pressure from my position to make up for what he’s not there doing.”

Dogs wanted Miami, but not upset with Orlando

Massaquoi admitted Georgia would rather be in Miami for the national championship.

But he added Georgia won’t overlook Michigan State in the Capital One Bowl.

“Looking back, we wanted to be in Miami, of course,” Massaquoi said. “Every team wants to win the national championship and their conference. Right now, we’re playing a great team in Michigan State. They’re well coached and I think it’s going to be a great game. It’s not something we’re pouting about because we’re not in Miami. We know we have a great opponent to play.”

Spartans expect man-to-man from Georgia’s defense

Based on the perception of SEC speed, Michigan State quarterback Brian Hoyer said he expects to see a lot of man-to-man coverage from Georgia’s secondary.

“You read into, ‘They’re the SEC and they’re going to have a lot of speed’ so they’re going to play a lot of man coverage,” Hoyer said.

Hoyer added there were a couple of teams he could compare Georgia’s secondary to.

“We haven’t seen a lot of teams that play too much man coverage this year but I would compare it to maybe a California, an Ohio State-type secondary,” Hoyer said. “They have that kind of speed.”

Spartan receivers finally healthy for game

Throughout much of the season Michigan State has dealt with injuries to its receivers.

However, against Georgia, the Spartans will have its top five receivers available.

“That will be huge for us,” Hoyer said. “We’ve kind of had a musical chairs of receivers, one guy gets healthy, one guy gets hurt. It’s huge to get Keshawn Martin back. Mark Dell looked great in practice today.”

Spartan running back wants to rid ‘salty taste’ after November loss

Much like Georgia, Michigan State lost in its last regular season game to a rival, falling to Penn State 49-18.

Michigan State running back Javon Ringer said he’s hoping the Spartans can erase the bad memories from that contest.

“I would say we’re more hungry,” Ringer said. “In November we had a salty taste in our mouth because we were getting ready for the Big Ten championship after the bye weekend and we didn’t really answer up to the hype, especially when you’re playing a big game. So we’ve had a salty taste in our mouth the whole month of December.”

Ringer added that playing Georgia can help show Michigan State can in fact play with higher competition.

“The coaches remind us every day,” Ringer said. “We have the opportunity to prove to ourselves, to our teammates, to the seniors and to our underclassmen that we have a great program And Georgia does too. This matchup’s going to be great and we can prove to the country that we have a great team.”