Georgia football: How threatening is LSU with nothing to play for … or lose?
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It was supposed to be a play-in game. At least for half the party. Georgia has probably already earned its place into the College Football Playoff. But LSU? Next Saturday was supposed to be a day very few expected to see come so soon.
Two losses. One game left. One chance to make it to the final four.
It was all there — and then it just slipped through the Tigers’ fingers.
With a chance to become the first 2-loss team to make it to the CFP — just as they were the first 2-loss team to win a BCS national championship — the Tigers laid an egg, falling 38-23 to Texas A&M and eliminating themselves from Playoff consideration.
It also set up a very interesting scenario in Saturday’s SEC Championship Game against the Dawgs: What sort of threat is posed by a Tigers team that has absolutely nothing to lose and nothing to gain?
You could tell me the matchup is going to go 1 of 2 ways, and I wouldn’t be surprised. On the one hand, with nothing of significance left on the table for the Tigers except maybe a better bowl game, perhaps you can expect the team to show up flat in Atlanta. You can say all you want about how nothing changes and you’re just trying to get a win regardless of the implications. But the fact remains that these are 18- to 22-year-olds who 48 hours ago expected to still have a shot at the 2022 national championship.
You can’t tell me their motivation doesn’t change as soon as all of that pretty hardware is no longer on the table.
On the other hand, there is absolutely no pressure. Lose to Georgia, who cares? Add it to the list. You weren’t supposed to win. The Dawgs are better. They’re going for a national title. You’re just playing in an SEC Championship Game with 3 losses.
It’s this latter mindset that gives me just the slightest pause for Georgia on Saturday.
Because, look, LSU is still a good football team. Nothing changed with its loss to Texas A&M. A team that was supposed to be really good beat a team that was supposed to be just okay. It happens.
LSU still has Jayden Daniels at quarterback. Daniels has still recorded 2,566 passing yards and 824 rushing yards. He still has 11 rushing touchdowns, and he can still scare the crap out of any defense — even the Dawgs’ vaunted No. 1 unit.
The Tigers still have a pair of pass rushers in Harold Perkins and B.J. Ojulari who can be a pest to any opposing quarterback. Perkins leads the team with 7.5 sacks, and Ojulari is right behind him with 5. Perkins has been solid all year, but particularly in the 2nd half of the season. In one game, a 13-10 win over Arkansas, Perkins notched 4 sacks and 2 forced fumbles to burst onto the scene.
Georgia isn’t Arkansas. The offensive line is certainly less porous, and the Dawgs aren’t sending out backup quarterbacks like the Razorbacks were that day.
But still. Four sacks will get anybody’s attention, no matter whom it’s against.
The point is this:
If you’re banking on the fact that LSU is out of contention, battling disappointment and potentially throwing in the towel throughout a crucial week of practice, I think you’re overlooking the obvious.
The Tigers have talent. They are a good football team, period, and will certainly have some advantages over the heavily favored Dawgs.
Georgia may win — probably will win — but it won’t be just because the Tigers didn’t show up. This is still a grind no matter how you slice it.
