Tag: SEC football

Matchup preview: Georgia’s defense against LSU’s offense

Georgia enters the SEC Championship ranked fourth in total defense. LSU is ranked second in total offense. Something’s gotta give.

Georgia enters the SEC Championship ranked fourth in total defense behind playoff locks Ohio State and Clemson and playoff hopeful Utah. They’ve given up the fewest touchdowns (12) in FBS.

LSU’s offense is led by Joe Burrow, the Heisman Trophy frontrunner who recently broke the Southeastern Conference record for passing yards in a single season.

The Tigers are ranked second in total offense and thus poses the greatest threat that the historically great 2019 Georgia defense has yet seen.

Something’s gotta give, right?

It’s worth noting that LSU’s main offensive strength plays well against the Georgia defense’s primary weakness whereas the Silver Britches’ defensive strengths play well against LSU’s offensive weakness.

Maybe the Tigers shouldn’t be labeled a “pass first” offense, but they have attempted 25 more passes than runs on the year (438 to 413). The Dawgs’ secondary has been great but is at times prone to giving up chunk yardage in quick passing plays. As we saw against Auburn, Georgia’s cornerbacks tackle well but occasionally have trouble covering in quick-release short-yardage scenarios.

Without opponents stacking the box in anticipation of a possible pass, LSU’s air attack in turn opens things up for a group of tailbacks who have accumulated more yards than any of the Bulldogs’ prior competion excluding Kentucky (who have rushed for over 3000 yards this season despite only gaining 160 ground yards in a rain-plagued contest in Athens).

Behind Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s 1233 solo rushing yards, the Tigers have combined for 2299 yards on the ground.

Georgia’s defense is second in the nation in rushing defense, giving up 71 ground yards per game and having allowed only 16 plays of over ten yards rushing this season. They’ve given up just 852 yards this year. The Junkyard Dawgs have proven they can contain tailbacks.

With a Heisman hopeful and one of the most talented group of wide receivers in college football, LSU will almost certainly attempt more passes than runs at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Saturday. Now more than ever, expect Ed Orgeron’s Tigers to go to the air against a defense that can stop tailbacks before they get a chance to run.

For a full statistical breakdown of how the Dawgs match up against the Tigers, click here.

Georgia versus LSU: keys to winning the SEC Championship

The Georgia Bulldogs and LSU Tigers face off in another classic SEC Championship Game. Kirby Smart will try to slow down LSU’s Joe Burrow

The Georgia Bulldogs and LSU Tigers are set to face off in another classic top-five SEC Championship match-up. LSU is favored, but both teams are facing arguably their biggest challenge of the season. It’s the best defense LSU has seen and the best offense Kirby Smart and Georgia will face all season.

Georgia must win the turnover battle, get off the field on third downs, and put pressure on Joe Burrow. Georgia will have to look to limit Burrow the way the Auburn Tigers did weeks ago. Georgia’s defensive line hasn’t gotten the recognition that Auburn’s defensive line has received, but Jordan Davis, Tyler Clark, and Devonte Wyatt have been rock-solid inside. The defense has yet to allow a running back to rush for a touchdown all season (Bo Nix scored the only allowed rushing TD).

At the very least, Georgia must shut down LSU’s run game and make the Tigers offense one-dimensional. LSU will be tough to stop, but sacks can throw any offense off schedule. LSU’s offensive line allows significantly more sacks than Georgia’s elite offensive line:

Georgia is eighth in the SEC with 26 sacks. The Bulldogs must disrupt the timing of LSU’s passing game. LSU will be willing to abandon the run game, like they did in their road game at Texas, if they don’t have any success running the ball. LSU ran the ball at-will against Auburn, Florida, and Alabama. Joe Burrow was a large factor against the Crimson Tide touting fourteen carries. LSU will try to involve him in the run game if they can’t get the dynamic Clyde Edwards-Helaire going.

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Georgia football K Rodrigo Blankenship wins another prestigious SEC award

Georgia football K Rodrigo Blankenship has won yet another prestigious SEC award.

Georgia kicker Rodrigo Blankenship has earned yet another prestigious SEC award.

On Thursday, it was announced that Blankenship had been named the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for football.

Blankenship is Georgia’s fourth winner of this award. David Greene (2004), Aaron Murray (2013) and Chris Conley (2014) are Georgia’s previous recipients.

With a 3.71 GPA, Blankenship graduated cum laude with a degree in Digital and Broadcast Journalism in 2018 and is currently working toward a master’s degree in journalism.

Blankenship is the school’s all-time leading score, a record he broke this season, and the conference’s second all-time leader in points scored.

He has been named the SEC’s Special Teams Player of the Week six times this season.

Georgia football fans expected to take over SEC Championship

UGA football fans are expected to take over the SEC Championship in Atlanta

If you’ve been following along with the Georgia Bulldogs this season, you probably already know about the impressive takeovers fans have made at Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Auburn and Georgia Tech.

Now, it’s time to turn our attention to the SEC Championship game, which is supposed to be played at a neutral-site in Mercedes Stadium.

However, Vivid Seats has informed us that the forecasted fan ratio is 69% Georgia fans (nice) and 31% LSU fans on Saturday.

If this is true, we expect a pretty significant Bulldog advantage over the Tigers in crowd noise, which could play a factor in the game. Earlier in the week, Coach Ed Orgeron mentioned he was getting his team ready for the noise at practice, but even that might not be enough for what is about to come.

“We will have crowd noise on Tuesday, Wednesday. Be very well-prepared for all the Georgia fight songs they’ll play on our field all week.”

Can the Dawg Nation help lead this Georgia team to victory? We’ll see, but it’s certainly not going to be easy.

Go Dawgs!

 

5 reasons why Georgia beats LSU in SEC Championship

Here are five reasons why Georgia football beats LSU in the SEC Championship Game on Saturday in Atlanta.

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With the biggest game of the year in college football on the horizon, Georgia vs LSU in the SEC Championship, we preview five reasons why the Bulldogs could take down the Tigers on Saturday.

Nobody is giving the Dawgs a chance this weekend, but key players on this team have defied the odds for the past three seasons.

I have faith. Here’s why:

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Georgia football injury report ahead of SECCG vs LSU

Georgia Football full injury report ahead of the SEC Championship Game this Saturday December 7th @ 4:00 p.m. on CBS.

Last Saturday’s game at Georgia Tech was the largest margin of victory Georgia has ever beat the Yellow Jackets by, but it didn’t come without a price.

As if losing WR Lawrence Cager for the rest of the season to an ankle injury wasn’t bad enough, the Dawgs star RB and engine to their offensive game D’Andre Swift got placed on the injury report for the first time all season. On top of that WR George Pickens got himself suspended for the first half of the SEC Championship Game by the SEC for throwing punches.

All of this sounds like bad news for Dawgs fans, but Kirby Smart has faced a little bit of adversity in his time in Athens.  Kirby has lost his offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, top 5 receivers, a 1,000 yard rusher, a Jim Thorpe Award winner and has nearly 70% freshmen and sophomores on his team this year (youngest in all of SEC).

All of this and he still has the Bulldogs playing for a College Football Playoff for the third year in a row.  Pretty incredible if you ask me.

Here’s Georgia’s full injury report ahead of the 2019 SEC Championship Game against LSU.

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What LSU media is saying about Georgia ahead of SEC Championship

Here is what the LSU media is saying about Georgia football ahead of the SEC Championship Game on Saturday.

No. 4 Georgia (11-1) takes on No. 2 LSU (12-0) this Saturday in the SEC Championship Game, in case you have not heard.

It will be a battle of two completely different teams. For LSU, the Tigers make their living on an explosive offense that centers around the arm of Joe Burrow.

For Georgia, the Dawgs play defense and they play it so well that they allow an average of 10 points per game.

It’s the nation’s best offense vs the nation’s best defense, and I for one cannot wait.

I took a little dive into the LSU media to see what their writers are saying about Georgia and the SEC Championship matchup that is Burrow vs the Dawgs D.

Wilson Alexander – The Advocate

Title: LSU thumped No. 2 Georgia last year; this time, Tigers are favored — and Bulldogs remember

Their styles are almost opposites of each other. Georgia wants to run the football behind a massive offensive line; LSU has smashed school passing records with five-receiver sets. Redshirt freshman outside linebacker Azeez Ojulari said Georgia has not faced a similar offense. But the Tigers have not faced a better defense.

This time, LSU will have to play inside a stadium familiar to the Bulldogs, who are aiming for their second conference title in three seasons. The Tigers think Georgia wants payback for last year.

Read full post here.

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How Georgia, LSU stack up ahead of SECCG: Statistical breakdown

How Georgia and LSU stack up statistically ahead of the SEC Championship Game, which is college football’s biggest of the weekend.

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The big one is here.

On Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on CBS, Georgia and LSU will square off in the SEC Championship Game in what will be a College Football Playoff play-in game for Georgia.

Flor LSU, the Tigers can probably afford to drop this one given their undefeated record and body of work to date.

But for the Dawgs, this is it. It’s win or go home. We suffered defeat in the exact same scenario last season and Kirby Smart will put out all the tricks to make sure that does not happen.

Georgia and LSU are two very different football teams.

LSU’s offense is incredible. Georgia’s, well, is not.

Georgia’s defense is equally as good as LSU’s offense. LSU’s defense is nothing special.

How this game plays out will be fun to watch. LSU will score points, less points than usual I would assume. Can Georgia hang in there and match them?

Here are how these two teams match up statistically.

OFFENSE:

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Alabama football season-by-season in 2010s decade

The Crimson Tide won four national titles and had a remarkable mark in the 2010s decade.

The 2019 season concludes a fantastic decade for Alabama. The Tide was perennial presence on the national title scene and won multiple crowns. Nick Saban became a legend in Tuscaloosa with some amazing players and teams.

2010: Capital One Bowl win (10-3 record)

Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

The Tide opened the decade with five consecutive victories before running into South Carolina. Alabama lost to the Gamecocks, 35-21, one of three SEC losses on the season. The Tide also fell at LSU and suffered a brutal, 28-27 loss to Auburn in the Iron Bowl, a game they led by 24 points. Nick Saban & Co. rebounded in the Cotton Bowl, finishing strong with a 49-7 thrashing of Michigan State.

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ESPN releases Top 25 power rankings after rivalry week

ESPN releases its latest Top 25 power rankings after rivalry week

As hard as it is to believe, the college football regular season is over. We have one more week of football before the Army-Navy game and bowl season, which is incredibly scary and sad.

Before we kick things off one last time, we’ll relish in the moment right now and go over some interesting power rankings.

Where does ESPN have the Dawgs in one of its finals power rankings? At No. 5 behind the Utes of Utah.

*Pauses for extended eye-rolling*

Below, you will find the network’s Top 10 teams.

  1. LSU
  2. Ohio State
  3. Clemson
  4. Utah
  5. Georgia
  6. Oklahoma
  7. Baylor
  8. Alabama
  9. Florida
  10. Wisconsin

The full Top 25 can be found here:

What do we dislike here? LSU at No. 1 over Ohio State is a coin flip, but works in this scenario. However, having Georgia at No. 5 and even Alabama No. 8 is a crime.

The Dawgs have a better resume than all of the other one-loss teams and we may be biased, but we sure do believe they deserve that Top 4 spot. As for Alabama, what the heck?

That’s one way to fight the ‘Bama Bias’ narrative, putting the Tide over a Gators squad trending in the right direction, with a better resume than Alabama. One could even make a case Wisconsin, Auburn, Minnesota and Penn State should be above the Tide in a power ranking.

But that’s none of our business… Ho hum, Alabama is still glum.