Heavy rain is expected throughout the Southeast on Saturday. That’s great news for weather forecasters, but a less-than-ideal situation for SEC quarterbacks.

Obviously wet footballs are more difficult to throw (and catch), and we’ll explain why in a bit, but that’s not the only impact the weather will have on today’s Alabama-Georgia game.

The rain will change the gameplans and limit the types of throws the quarterbacks can make. I’m sure Greyson Lambert and Jacob Coker are going into the game planning to run the heck out of it anyway, but you can’t throw takeoff routes, slants.

You really have to grip the heck out of it to throw those routes. When it’s wet, you have to make sure you don’t grip it that hard. Usually you’ll grip the ball and have a nice firm grip on it, but when it’s wet and slippery, you have to loosen up the grip a little bit. If you try to grip it too much, it’s going to slide right out of your hand. That’s one thing that Lambert and Coker are going to have to deal with.

You have to get the laces, too, especially in the rain. I just don’t see those guys throwing a whole lot of hitches and slants, quick throws where you sometimes don’t have time to find the laces. You have to really grip those throws. It’s hard to throw without the laces anyway, but when it’s wet and you have nothing to grip, it’s even more difficult.