Georgia Bulldogs Can’t Be Counted Out In SEC Championship
By Deke Lloyd
The Georgia Bulldogs will take the field in MBS on Saturday to face off with the LSU Tigers for the SEC Championship Game. Around the college football world, it’s assumed LSU’s high powered offense will trounce Georgia. This may not be the case.
Georgia and LSU have been on a collision course all season. One team, LSU, has gotten to this point by bludgeoning teams with a stellar offense and Heisman favorite, Joe Burrow. On the other side, Georgia has been methodically working through its schedule with one major slip-up against South Carolina in the middle of the season. Since then, the Georgia Bulldogs have played their best football.
All season, the talk has been of how good the LSU offense is at scoring points on the likes of Vanderbilt, Arkansas, and Alabama. Yes, the LSU offense is great, but it’s fair to argue the LSU has yet to face a defense as stout as the Georgia Bulldogs. That doesn’t mean Joe Burrow and company won’t torch the Bulldogs on Saturday. It’s possible. However, it’s also possible this Georgia defense will give the LSU offense a challenge they have not faced off with all season. In today’s football, the offense will always get all of the love.
The Georgia defense cannot be ignored, however. This Georgia defense has been making mincemeat of teams since their loss to South Carolina. It was the 10th game of the season, against Auburn, that Georgia surrendered their first rushing touchdown of the season! That’s an incredible stat. This Georgia defense doesn’t have a superstar like Chase Young, but it’s a unit that plays together and is extremely sound when it comes to their fundamentals. This Georgia defense is too special to be counted out of any game, no matter the opponent’s offense.
On the other side of the ball for LSU, their defense has been somewhat of a question mark. It doesn’t matter as much when the offense is putting up video game numbers, but it’s something to keep an eye on. Ole Miss, a team that focuses on the run in their offense, dropped 37 points. Vanderbilt scored 38 points. Arkansas, a historically bad Arkansas team, scored 20 points. This LSU defense is not the LSU defense from the past ten years. This Tigers team can be scored on.
Saturday’s SEC Championship game looks like it could a classic matchup of teams who do things very different things very well. LSU’s offense is historic just like the Georgia defense is historic. To count out Georgia, with their defense, is silly. Georgia is led by a QB who has played in this game twice already and won’t be shaken by the stakes of the SEC Championship. Georgia is a team that has been tested by Notre Dame, Florida, and Auburn this season. Georgia is going into this game as an underdog, but don’t be surprised to see the Bulldogs finish on top when the game is over.