5 reasons Georgia can still win the SEC East
After a complete 45-14 loss Saturday at Ole Miss, it feels as though Georgia is a distant third in the SEC East division race. All is not lost for Bulldogs fans, however, as there are a few things that could help them not only get back into the mix but end up on top.
Georgia needs to capitalize on this Saturday’s home game with Tennessee in order to get 2016 back on track, but looking at the bigger picture, there is hope for Kirby Smart’s team.
Here are five reasons the Bulldogs can still win the SEC East.
Its biggest games are still ahead of it: Entering the season, there were four toss-up games Georgia fans had circled. So far, the Bulldogs are 1-1 in those games, with a solid win against North Carolina and an embarrassing loss at Ole Miss.
Fortunately, it’s the final two against Tennessee and Florida that really matter. Although last Saturday’s loss was certainly deflating, it ultimately won’t matter if the team can regroup to win at home against the Volunteers. If Georgia manages to knock of a Tennessee team fresh off a major symbolic victory, it will hold the tiebreaker over the Vols and sit atop the division standings.
With visions of the lackluster 45-14 loss still fresh in Bulldogs fans’ minds, a win might seem improbable. But each game is played for a reason, and anything can happen on any given weekend. Georgia suffered its first loss, but it wasn’t a dooming one for its division chances.
The schedule is very favorable: Outside of the games against the Vols and Gators, the Bulldogs have one of the division’s best schedules. As of now, the only other games that could even be considered tough would be against Auburn and Georgia Tech, both of which are at home.
Of course, this is assuming a lot. Those games won’t happen until much later in the season and there are a wide variety of things that could occur in the meantime: key players could get injured, other teams could start performing, there could be nothing left to play for, etc. But, right now, the schedule sets up favorably for Georgia, meaning it just needs to take care of business against Tennessee and Florida.
The same can’t be said for the Bulldogs’ main competitors. Tennessee kicked off an absolutely brutal stretch with a strong win over Florida, but it still has games at Georgia and Texas A&M, followed by a home game with Alabama waiting to finish that four-week slate.
Florida’s schedule is slightly easier and looks better now than it did before the season. Nobody knows what LSU will look like with Les Miles gone, but Arkansas and Florida State (non-conference, obviously) are looming outside of the annual meeting with Georgia in Jacksonville.
The Bulldogs have already faced the best passing teams: Ole Miss shredded the Bulldogs’ secondary, completing six passes of 20-plus yards and totaling 330 yards and 3 touchdowns. That might leave fans with a sick feeling in their stomachs, but that might be as bad as it gets.
In North Carolina, Missouri and Ole Miss, Georgia has already faced the best passing attacks it is likely to see. Each of those schools sit in the top 20 nationally for passing yards per game. The next best passing team that Georgia will face is Florida, which is ranked No. 40.
Josh Dobbs shook off a slow start with a career-day against Florida, but he’s still a greater running threat than he is through the air. That being said, Ole Miss’ bigger wide receivers gave Georgia’s defensive backs all sorts of trouble, and Tennessee has plenty of players that capable of doing the same.
Young players gaining experience: This is harder to quantify, but it’s something that should happen with a young team, and the Bulldogs are a young team.
A freshman or sophomore is first or second in total passing, rushing and receiving yards for Georgia. Defensively, the top three tacklers are sophomores, with several freshmen also playing a role. Kirby Smart has said many times that there are inexperienced players out there in crunch time, which is not promising for the present but a good thing for the future.
So far, these young players have experienced a lot. They’ve played in a neutral site, national showdown against North Carolina, had to stave off an upset bid, come from behind to steal an SEC road victory and taken it on the chin against an SEC West power. There isn’t really much left that should rattle these young Bulldogs, and players like Jacob Eason, Isaac Nauta, Brian Herrien and David Marsall should improve.
There isn’t a dominant team in the division: In the second half of the comeback win against Florida, Tennessee looked as good as any SEC East team this season. But it’s hard to ignore the games against Appalachian State and Ohio. Right now, it’s hard to say that the Vols are on par with Texas A&M and Alabama.
Florida once again has a defense capable of shutting down any opponent, but it failed to make enough plays in the second half against Tennessee. With Luke Del Rio injured for likely another week or two, the offense might struggle again. Regardless, the Gators have the ability to play at a very high level when everything is clicking, but they couldn’t do it when it mattered the most.
Right now, Georgia appears to have the most question marks of these three teams, but there isn’t one team that is head-and-shoulders above everyone else. When taking into account the remaining schedules, the Bulldogs are still very much alive in the division.
William McFadden covers the University of Georgia for Saturday Down South. For news on everything happening between the hedges, follow him on Twitter @willmcfadden.
I think UGA fans are the ones thinking they’re out of it. Tennessee is no Ole Miss. Ole Miss would beat the breaks off of UT. UGA could win this matchup.
Ole Miss would beat the breaks off of UT? Huh? Okay… Ole Miss, the most dominant first half team, that has yet to show they can play a full game for 60 minutes, vs. Tennessee, one of the most dominant second half teams, that has continued to show they can always find a way to win regardless of the level of competition. I think they’d be two very evenly matched teams. I’d love to play Ole Miss. Would be a great game.
Don’t kid yourself, you wouldn’t want to play Ole Miss. Ole Miss would rip yall to shreds. I’m not saying Tennessee isn’t good, but their not up to par with the west’s top tier teams. It doesn’t matter who wins the east, the west will stomp them just like they have done the last 6 years.
Do you even read what you write?.
You say UM can’t play 60 minutes and then talk about UT being a “dominant second half team?” Ole Miss played a complete game against UGA – maybe you were sleeping. A little tougher than squeaking by App State, wouldn’t you say?
Yeah – I would like to see UM play UT as well. But I don’t think you would like the outcome.
Remember 2014? Of course you do. Who could forget that 0 (ZERO lol) yards rushing, 31 point beatdown. The outcome would likely be the same this year.
LOL! With that dumpster fire of a defense?
Agree 100%, The SEC west continues to be the best division in football. The east is down maybe the lowest it’s been in a while. It’s a sad day when the east leader has to go to overtime with a sun belt team that hasn’t beat a power 5 since what 07? I still feel that GA hangs around and wins the East, as the season goes on the young players will improve the team will adjust to the changes Smart had brought in, it’s all upside for GA, for TN they have peaked. This is the best team they are going to have for a while and they have had trouble with teams like app state, va tech, and Ohio, not exactly the cream of the crop. Also don’t count FL out yet.
At least ya’ll are better than Ken….oh wait
Thank you for proving my point you know it’s a down year in the east when TN is on top with one SEC win. Congrats on almost being relevant again.
Haha look, this is the SEC and teams can win on any given Saturday. But with a win vs UGA, Tennessee is looking at playing the game of the week for 4 straight weeks and playing in front of College Gameday for the 4th time in 6 weeks. That isn’t the equivalent of winning the conference, but my friend it is the definition of relevant. Later.
Baby steps in Knoxville I guess, lol so let me get this straight you rate relevance by college gameday appearances, lol ok how about try having a 10 win season, an east title or even more then two winning regular seasons in a decade.
Yes that is what I consider relevant. When CBS gets to pick first of all conference games each week and they pick UT’s game 4 in a row, yes that means UT is relevant. Now, relevance and success are two different things. Success is measured in wins and championships.
Maybe it has something to do with the team UT is playing?
Yes I agree that certainly is a big factor and it takes two good teams to make an attractive national game – but Tennessee has played Florida, UGA, Bama plenty the last few years and not attracted Gameday or the CBS time slot. Those games are generally picked for their competitiveness and national relevance. That was the only point I was making.
“Right now, it’s hard to say that the Vols are on par with Texas A&M and Alabama.”
I’ll give you Alabama. But Texas A&M hasn’t looked incredibly dominant. They took UCLA to OT. UCLA is now looking a bit overrated. They dominated an absolutely terrible team. They beat a mediocre Auburn team that loves to beat themselves, then they beat a good Arkansas team. However, Arkansas could have easily won that game. Arkansas lost a fumble as they were running into the endzone, they failed to score in the redzone other times. It’s a great win for the Aggies, but Arkansas could have won that game.
How is this a more dominant performance than the Vols? The Vols took a pretty good App State to OT and looked mediocre in both the App State and Ohio games. However, Tennessee dominated what is shaping up to be a really good Virginia Tech team, and dominated a great defense in the second half against Florida. I honestly see both the Vols and Aggies as being very comparable. Not sure how anyone can look at Tennessee after the win versus Florida and VT and say “nope, totally not on par with Texas A&M.”
While I’ll give you Alabama because they have looked dominant, they haven’t played anyone. They wrecked a terrible USC team, then beat a legit Ole Miss team. The remaining teams on their schedule have been total pushovers. I think their dominant come back win is reminiscent of Tennessee’s win over Florida, but I also think OM is better than Florida. I’ll give you Bama, but I think Tennessee and A&M right now are pretty comparable. I see all three teams, plus Ole Miss, as being the class of the SEC. It’s honestly unfair to leave Ole Miss out of the discussion. They are an incredibly good team still.
I love how you make your posts to try and convince yourself you’re right. So Arkansas could have easily won against TAMU? You could say the same thing about App state against UT right? VT looks good because they haven’t played anyone yet. Give it time and they will suffer the same fate as USC and UCLA……You can take almost every argument you used to down play TAMU and Bama and add it back twice over to what UT has done this season…
I’m not even trying to argue that Tennessee is better than Bama or TAMU. Just that Tennessee and TAMU are comparable right now. So sorry to ever imply that any team from the East could ever compete with the West. BamaTime, all you do is complain about the East. You troll and troll and troll on here. The second anyone could question Bama, you whine like a baby. Sorry that I ever would possibly suggest that any team from the West is vulnerable. Just go back to whining. It will all work itself out. But right now, it’s clear that Bama, TAMU, Tennessee, and Ole Miss are all the class of the SEC, and are ahead of the rest of the pack.
It sounds like you’re the one whining. Notice how nobody else posting here seems to agree with your assessment? No need to try to take a shot at me. You’re the one who tried to criticize teams that have actually performed better than UT against better competition……The fact you said TAMU could have lost to arky but failed to see how that same logic can be applied to app state just shows you’re not being reasonable at all.
Mythic – what in the heck are you talking about?
“While I’ll give you Alabama because they have looked dominant, they haven’t played anyone.”
” then beat a legit Ole Miss team.”
“It’s honestly unfair to leave Ole Miss out of the discussion. They are an incredibly good team still.”
So how is it that Alabama hasn’t played anyone, yet they beat Ole Miss. A team that you said is “legit” and “incredibly good”.
How many butt chugs did you do before you wrote that?
“Arkansas could have easily won that game.”
Not. Losing by 21 totally negates the allegation and the allegator.
Just stick with facts – UT is doing OK now but not setting the world on fire.
The Georgia Tech game has 0% bearing on the SEC East race. Would UGA fans trade a SEC East title for a GT loss? IDK….
Probably
Yes, I’d take that trade under 1 condition: we win every other game in the season.
Of course it matters. Divisions are decided first based on overall record. If they lose to GT, that’s another tick in the L column which could effect their standing.
Man this thread is on fire. Where’s the popcorn!?
Why would we assume that any program is not going to get better in the 5th week of 12 ? How many times has a championship been won by steady improvement down the stretch? I think only one East team is unlikely to improve and go on a streak. I think only 3 West teams are unlikely to improve significantly. It’s going to be a fun next 8 weekends.
This game usually close one. UGA qb going to be a good one, and can’t give him time. Both teams showed flashes of good play, and poor play. Don’t buy in on the vacuum of talent at UGA. Not sure about the UT/TaM debate, but if both teams playing good ball, it’s all about the matchups. We matched up well against UGA LY, but not Ark. Things will tilt back to SEC E again. UF will be on upswing. UGA has QB to build around, and UT seems to be going in right direction. MSU back down already. Who knows about LSU now, and OM losing QB next year plus threat of sanctions. I almost forgot to mention Auburn, which tells you where they are…TaM is above average and..OK, Bama will do fine until Saban retires, but SEC W can’t hide under that umbrella forever.
UGA needs to play better on both sides of the line. I don’t know what happened to that o-line but it went from one of the best the past few years to not being able to stop pass rushes or open holes.