TAMPA, Fla. -- When Tampa Bay opened the season with a 31-24 road victory over the Atlanta Falcons, it was a promising start to Dirk Koetters head coaching career against a team he and Buccaneers defensive crdinator Mike Smith coached together.But as the rematch approaches Thursday night at Raymond James Stadium, much has changed as the Buccaneers find themselves considerably short-handed as they try to stop a Falcons offense that has established itself as the NFLs best.I think theyre playing with more confidence, and you would expect that: They won some big games, Koetter said.The Falcons (5-3) have the NFC South lead and quarterback Matt Ryan leads the NFL in touchdown passes (19) and passing yards (2,636), having thrown scoring passes to an NFL-best 10 different players. The biggest challenge will be containing receiver Julio Jones, who went off for 300 yards in a victory against Carolina this season, but the Buccaneers held him to 66 yards in the first meeting. Jones has been slowed by a knee injury, but the Bucs fully expect to face him.Julio Jones is going to play, said Smith, his coach in Atlanta until last year. He is obviously one of the top three receivers in the league. Theres no doubt about that. Maybe No. 1. I think hes probably one of the toughest guys to defend.The Bucs wont have nearly the same offensive lineup they had around quarterback Jameis Winston in the first meeting. Doug Martin and Charles Sims, the teams top two running backs, are injured as is No. 2 receiver Vincent Jackson, and tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins, who caught a 30-yard touchdown against the Falcons, has since been arrested on a DUI charge and waived.As if losing their top two backs wasnt enough, the Bucs will be without former Falcons back Jacquizz Rodgers, who had filled in admirably with back-to-back 100-yard games before getting injured Sunday in a loss to the Raiders.Now the Bucs move forward with three backs all signed off the street since the start of the season -- former Falcons back Antone Smith, who has never had more than four carries in a game; rkie Peyton Barber, who played only three offensive snaps in Sundays loss; and Mike James, who was signed Tuesday after being waived-injured by the Bucs in Week 1, days before the first Falcons game.The quick turnaround to a Thursday game is tough enough, but the Bucs are coming off an overtime loss to Oakland that saw their defense on the field for 94 snaps. The Raiders piled up 626 yards of total offense, including a franchise-record 512 passing by Derek Carr, whose fourth touchdown won the game late in overtime.Atlanta, t, had their game Sunday come down to the wire as Mohamed Sanu caught the game-winning touchdown in a win over the Packers, so both teams will be physically spent entering the game.Our last three weeks, all the games have come right down to the end, coach Dan Quinn said Tuesday. We had some disappointing finishes where we thought we had a chance to finish and we didnt, then in this game where we did. Were glad we had another opportunity to try to finish ... weve got work to do, but were pleased we were able to finish it this past one.If the Bucs (3-4) win, theyll have the season sweep of the Falcons and be a half-game out of first and even in losses with the Falcons. Theyll need to play much better defensively than they did against Oakland, while facing the NFLs top passer, but Tampa Bay has won three straight against Atlanta -- all since Winston tk over as quarterback last season.Both teams will enjoy the longer break after Thursdays game with the Bucs staying home to face the Bears in Week 10, while the Falcons go to the Eagles next weekend before finally getting their open date. MORAGA, Calif. -- Saint Marys got a big lift from backup center Jordan Hunter when he hit a 3-point shot from midcourt just before halftime.Jock Landale, who starts ahead of Hunter, added his own signature moment early in the second half with a midcourt steal and a soaring dunk that helped get the 12th-ranked Gaels back on track after suffering their first loss of the season.Landale had 15 points and seven rebounds, Evan Fitzner added a season-high 12 points and No. 12 Saint Marys bounced back from its first loss of the season to beat UC Irvine 84-53 on Sunday night.Hunters 3-pointer was the first of his college career.That was pretty awesome, Fitzner said. That was big-time. Its a big play because going into the second half you kind of feel that momentum.Hunter rarely plays and was on the court fewer than 60 seconds when he made the halfcourt heave.I practice that all the time so it was just second nature when I let it go, Hunter said with a laugh. The ball came my way, I jumped in front of Dane (Pineau) and I just let it fly.Saint Marys (7-1) was crisp offensively most of the game and shot 56.3 percent from the flr, a vast improvement from two nights earlier when the Gaels went 16 of 51 in a 65-51 loss to Texas-Arlington.Landale, the leading scorer for Randy Bennetts team, bounced back from one of his worst games of the season to pace Saint Marys. Landale had seven points as part of a game-opening 12-3 run, then scored on an emphatic dunk early in the second half.We struggled the other night so its always gd to get one back, Fitzner said. We didnt really have as gd as energy as we had tonight. It always helps when youre making shots. Our guards did a gd job of giving us open lks tonight.Jordan Ford scored 12 points and Emmett Naar added 10 to help the Gaels win won their third straight over the Anteaters.Eyassu Workue scored 14 points and Tommy Rutherford had 11 for UC Irvine. The Anteaterss (5-6) have lost four of six.ddddddddddddThe Gaels never trailed and won for the fifth time in six home games this season.Two days after lking sluggish and out of sync in the loss to Texas-Arlington, Saint Marys shot well but couldnt shake Irvine until going on runs of 9-2 and 8-3 late in the first half.Fitzner scored seven points over the final 6:05 and Jordan Hunter added a buzzer-beating 3-point heave from midcourt to put Saint Marys up 38-25 after the Anteaters had trouble inbounding the ball. Hunter, a 6-ft-10-inch backup center, had not attempted a 3-pointer in 30 previous games with the Gaels.Bennett called it the play of the night.It changed that game, Bennett said. Going in up 13, its a difference. It really is. It helped us and then we came out in the second half and you could kind of feel the momentum.POLL IMPLICATIONSBeating an overmatched Irvine team helps the record but wont make voters forget what happened earlier in the week. The Gaels will drop from No. 12 based on their loss to Texas-Arlington and could wind up falling out of the Top 25 altogether.BIG PICTUREUC Irvine: The Anteaters showed some spark early but eventually faded. Its a matter of consistency. T many times Irvines players std around rather than moving without the ball. Their usual strong defense also allowed the Gaels to sht 64 percent in the second half.Saint Marys: It might not be enough to keep the Gaels from dropping out of the rankings, but they needed to have a feel-gd moment and they got it against Irvine. Getting Landale back on track is a gd sign.UP NEXTUC Irvine: The Anteaters continue their five-game trip against Nevada on Wednesday night.Saint Marys: The Gaels dont leave McKeon Pavilion until conference play begins. They will host Western Kentucky on Wednesday night. ' ' '