The SEC Championship Game will be decided at the line of scrimmage.

Georgia is built that way, and LSU can’t change that.

The East Division champion Bulldogs will arrive at Mercedes-Benz Stadium with a whole bunch of big, strong, athletic offensive and defensive linemen.

The West Division champion Tigers understand that. They just need to embrace it.

They need to recognize that if they hold their own — or especially, if they outperform the defending national champions — up front, the rest of their game plan gets easier to execute.

Missouri went toe-to-toe with No. 1 Georgia at the line of scrimmage and came the closest of any opponent to beating the undefeated Bulldogs before losing, 26-22.

LSU can do the same, and it has the athletes at the other positions to pull off the upset.

Let’s start on offense.

So much of the Tigers’ ability to win this game rides on their ability to run the ball effectively. They don’t have to get a bunch of chunk plays, but they do have to move the ball, stay on schedule, keep the Georgia defense honest, move the chains and score points when they have the opportunity.

Head coach Brian Kelly said the ankle injury quarterback that Jayden Daniels suffered in the loss to Texas A&M last week isn’t serious. That’s important, because Daniels has been the key to the LSU running game all season.

But he can’t do it alone.

Kelly has held back Josh Williams, the team’s most physical runner, the past 2 weeks in hopes of maximizing his health for this game. It seems Williams will play and will be near 100 percent. He’s the one who can gain the toughest yards, the short-yardage 1st downs, avoid a negative play even when the Bulldogs get into the backfield.

Noah Cain filled in effectively against UAB 2 weeks ago, and his style most resembles that of Williams.

Then there’s John Emery Jr., who can provide an explosive complement to Williams’ and Cain’s power. He bounced back from a multiple-fumble game against UAB to run for a career-high 3 touchdowns against the Aggies.

The Tigers need to run Daniels and some combination of Williams, Cain and Emery and keep running them, using a change of pace, fresh legs and patience to set the tone for the game.

That means the offensive line has to play its best game of the season, even better than it played in the overtime win against Alabama.

Left guard Garrett Dellinger and center Charles Turner III seem the healthiest they have been in a while, and right guard Anthony Bradford has settled in. Freshman tackles Will Campbell and Emery Jones Jr. haven’t played like freshmen all season, and now it’s the 13th game of their careers.

The unit is talented, seasoned and as cohesive as it has been all season.

Georgia’s defensive line is outstanding, but LSU’s offensive line can compete well enough for the Tigers to win.

If LSU runs the ball consistently well, Daniels has a much better chance of being effective with play-action. Williams and Emery can be important in the short passing game, and Malik Nabers, Kayshon Boutte, Jaray Jenkins, Brian Thomas Jr. and tight end Mason Taylor all are capable of making plays.

The Tigers need to take a couple of deep shots to loosen up the Bulldogs’ defense, and because a quick-strike touchdown can go a long way toward pulling off an upset like this would be.

But even if LSU doesn’t hit any big plays, the number of 1st downs, the percent of 3rd- and 4th-down conversions and time of possession can provide a path to victory.

Keeping Stetson Bennett IV and the Georgia offense on the sideline for 35 minutes or so, and making the Georgia defense work for the same amount of time, would be significant.

If the Tigers are going to win this game, it’s probably not going to be in a shootout. At most, it would be in the area of the Alabama score (33-32), but probably lower-scoring.

The Bulldogs’ tightest games were relatively low-scoring — Missouri (26-22), Kentucky (16-6), Kent State (39-22) and Tennessee (27-13).

They committed multiple turnovers in each of those games except Kentucky, which was 1-1.

They also struggled in the red zone in those games.

The LSU offense can help the defense in terms of keeping the ball away from Georgia. The special teams (which absolutely have to avoid the breakdowns that have plagued it throughout the season) can help the defense by providing long fields for the Bulldogs to traverse.

But the defense still has a lot of heavy lifting to do.

Bulldogs wide receiver AD Mitchell hasn’t played since reinjuring an ankle against Auburn on Oct. 8, but he might play Saturday. If he does, he’ll warrant significant attention, because the Bulldogs’ passing game has been less explosive in his absence.

Regardless of Mitchell’s availability, tight end Brock Bowers will be one of the most important players in the game because of his pass-catching and rushing ability.

And now we return to the line of scrimmage.

LSU doesn’t have the overall strength and depth up front to outmuscle the Georgia offensive line for an entire game. But it does have BJ Ojulari, Ali Gaye and Harold Perkins, who have the speed, quickness and versatility to disrupt the Bulldogs in the backfield and near the line of scrimmage.

Defensive coordinator Matt House will move them around to create favorable matchups and utilize their big-play ability.

The Tigers can win this game.

If they take the ball away more than they give it away, run it effectively, possess it longer and are more productive in the red zone, they can prevail.

But that’s a lot easier said than done.