5 reasons why Georgia football will beat TAMU on Saturday

Here are five reasons why UGA football will beat the Texas A&M Aggies on Saturday in Athens, Georgia.

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This Saturday, the No. 4 ranked Georgia Bulldogs (9-1) host the unranked Texas A&M Aggies (7-3) in Athens.

Georgia, with its win over Auburn last weekend, clinched its spot in its third consecutive SEC Championship. The Aggies, on the other hand, were given college football’s hardest schedule and have lost to Clemson, Auburn and Alabama. Additionally, they still have to play LSU at the end of the season.

Despite being ranked No. 23 in both the Amway Coaches Poll and the AP Top-25, Texas A&M stayed unranked in the College Football Playoff rankings.

But do not sleep on Jimbo Fisher’s group. His team is coming off of a bye week and most recently beat South Carolina 30-6, the same team that beat Georgia in October.

We got the Dawgs winning, and you can see why below, but the DawgNation will come out and be loud on Saturday at 3:30.

Here are five reasons why Georgia beats Texas A&M.

Georgia football opens as heavy favorite over the Aggies

Georgia football opens as a heavy favorite over the Texas A&M Aggies.

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This Saturday, Georgia hosts Texas A&M in Sanford Stadium for the Bulldogs’ final SEC matchup of the year.

It will be the first time the two schools have met since the Aggies joined the SEC in 2012.

Ahead of Saturday’s matchup, Georgia opened as a 13.5 point favorite over Texas A&M, continuing the Dawgs’ streak of being favored in every game they have played this season.

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No. 4 Georgia is sitting at 9-1 and coming off an impressive road win over Auburn, while Texas A&M, which found its way into the Amway Coaches Poll this week at No. 24, is 7-3. Last Saturday, the Aggies took down South Carolina, the team responsible for handing Georgia its only loss, by a score of 30-6.

The last time the two programs met was in the 2009 Independence Bowl, which Georgia won 44-20. Running back Caleb King was responsible for two rushing touchdowns while tight end Aaron White caught two of his own.

Georgia leads the all-time series 3-2. The most recent regular season meeting between the two programs came in 1980. Georgia won that game and went on to win its second national championship.

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How Georgia football and TAMU match up: Statistical breakdown

See how Georgia football and Texas AM football matchup in our weekly head-to-head statistical breakdown ahead of Saturdays game.

The Texas A&M Aggies travel East this Saturday as the Georgia Bulldogs will host them in Sanford Stadium for what will be the Dawgs final SEC matchup of the regular season.

Georgia secured a ticket to its third straight SEC Championship Game this past Saturday with a 21-14 victory at Auburn.

The unranked Aggies (7-3, 4-2) are not a team to overlook.  Jimbo Fisher and company have lost games to previously ranked #1 Clemson, #1 Alabama and #8 Auburn. A&M has one of the toughest schedules in all of college football, still having #4 Georgia as well as #1 LSU the week after.

That will be a total of three #1 teams and four top five teams on the season.

That being said, let’s take a look at how these two teams matchup statistically this season.

On paper, the first matchup between the Bulldogs ands Aggies since TAMU joined the SEC in 2012 looks to be a Georgia win. But, hey, we said the same thing before South Carolina.

Here’s a look at how the two SEC programs match up statistically.

OFFENSE

Georgia football HC Kirby Smart talks Lawrence Cager, OL injuries

Ahead of the Georgia football game vs Texas A&M, Kirby Smart discussed the injury of Lawrence Cager and some offensive linemen.

Georgia is at the point in the season where it’s not a matter of whether or not a player is injured, but whether or not he is able play through it.

After Georgia’s physical game against Auburn, which the Dawgs won 21-14 on the road, UGA will look to heal up as much as possible ahead of its final SEC matchup with Texas A&M on Saturday.

Wide receiver Lawrence Cager left the Auburn game in the first quarter after making just one catch.

On Saturday, Smart discussed the injury, which came to the shoulder that has been bothering Cager all season.

“He took a shot, and it bothered him. He took a shot on the (fourth) play of the game I think, maybe, and it started bothering him.”

On Monday, Smart updated Cager’s status.

“Cager will be cleared to practice, it will just be a matter of if he can sustain,” Smart said.

Versatile offensive lineman Cade Mays was able to play for a portion of the game, but eventually had to be held out.

 “Cade is banged up — don’t think he’s going to be able to practice today, but we think he’s going to be able to play and he’s going to be able to hopefully practice Tuesday.”

Mays left the Missouri game the week before with an ankle injury.

“(Mays) is a little beat up, (and) we knew that going into the game, he’s got some soreness, and he’s fighting through it.,” Smart said.

On fellow offensive lineman Ben Cleveland, Smart mentioned that he missed some practice last week with a toe injury but is hopeful that the big man will be able to play vs Texas A&M.

“Ben (Cleveland) is still fighting the injury bug, too, on lower extremity. We’re hopeful he’s able to go.”

Georgia football’s defensive stats are absolutely nuts

These Georgia football defensive stats are literally nuts.

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This Georgia defense is the best in the conference and it’s one of the NCAA’s elite defenses. In nine games this year, the defense has allowed a high of 17 points.

Here’s each game so far:

6, 17, 0, 17, 14, 13, 0, 17, 0.

Remember, in the South Carolina game Georgia’s defense actually only allowed 13 points. The Gamecocks got seven when they returned an interception back for a touchdown.

That’s three shutouts, and two of those came against SEC teams Kentucky and Missouri.

This defense is something special.

Saturday proved that again as Georgia held Missouri to 0 points, 198 total yards, 148 passing and 50 rushing.

In the fourth quarter, Georgia almost saw its nine game streak of no rushing touchdowns allowed come to a close. But the defense prevailed and not only did not allow a rushing score, but no score at all for that matter.

The passing defense could be cleaned up a little bit, but the Dawgs are still fine in that category, ranking 17th nationally.

A big part of Georgia’s solid passing defense can be credited to the run defense. Georgia takes away its opponents run game. It’s a sure thing. Basically, if you think you want to run the ball against Georgia, think again.

With the Dawgs being so stout against the run, teams are forced to throw it. And just because the Georgia pass defense is not as elite as its run defense, don’t take that secondary lightly. There are some big name players back there just waiting for you to throw it at them.

Compared to the rest of the SEC, there’s no questioning that Georgia has the conference’s best defense.

Just look at these stats and where they rank among the SEC and the nation.

10.1 points per game allowed (2nd nationally, 1st in the SEC)

260.3 total yards per game allowed (5th nationally, 1st in the SEC)

4.32 yards per played allowed (4th nationally, 1st in the SEC)

185.8 passing yards per game allowed (17th nationally, 3rd in the SEC)

5.6 yards per attempt (5th nationally, 2nd in the SEC)

74.5 rushing yards per game allowed (4th nationally, 1st in the SEC)

2.77 yards per carry allowed (4th nationally, 1st in the SEC)

29.6% opponent 3rd down conversion rate (11th nationally, 1st in the SEC)

57.14% opponent red zone score conversion rate (1st nationally, 1st in the SEC)