The Arizona State game is over and now it's time to focus on a game of significant importance. We certainly could have lost the last one but it would have had no effect on league play. Our penchant for turning the ball over shot us in the foot once again and we gave up a 14-3 lead at the half so that we could come down to the final seconds and kick a game winning field goal. I'm glad we won but like I've said several times, my heart can't take much more of this.
So here come the 4th ranked LSU tigers...yes, I said 4th ranked. The same team that let Mississippi State hang around and almost beat them despite 5 turnovers (a missed field goal is a turnover on downs). Now, I'm not saying they can't mop the floor with us if we play bad like we have shown the propensity to do but I will say that if we play a complete game and don't turn the ball over then this could be a mismatch. These tigers have less bite than Tony from the frosted flakes commercials and flakes they very well could be. I thought that Ole Miss was highly overrated at 4 last week and this team is right there with them. Are they a team full of the best athletes in the country? Sure, but so are we. Are they playing good football right now? No, but neither are we. I will say that we have shown more potential to be great then they have against better competition and we have been more explosive on offense than they have shown thus far. They could have been holding it all back for week 5 against the Dawgs who throttled them last year 52-38 but I doubt that. They had 30 yards rushing last week. 30. With two of the best backs in the SEC if not the country. They have a great O line, D line, secondary, receivers, running backs, return men...They have it all. But they haven't played up to their potential and it hasn't been close against decent competition. We have a jekyll and hyde team of our own. Last week we shut down a good Arizona State offense that came in ranked 8th in the nation...Who had they played? We still held them to 204 total yards and only gave up 10 points. The other 7 were courtesy of Joe and an ill-timed bad pass to the ASU safety. He plays hot and cold and so does the rest of the team and this leads me to focal points for this weeks game.
Here are a few keys:
Running game: Neither team is running the ball that well but the one who has the most yards on the ground should win unless...
Passing game: Who wins the battle here? The seasoned veteran who has thrown for 9 touchdowns, or the sophomore who can beat you with his legs or his arm? Cox has shown the ability to play a great game(weeks 2 and 3) or a terrible game (weeks 1 and 4). The one that we get could be all the difference.
How does LSU defend AJ Green? He's already leading the league in yards per game and has 4 tds despite being doubled every game. If they have Chad jones bracketing him along with Peterson then one of the other receivers will be open.
How does Georgia defend LSU's talented receivers? LaFell and Tolliver are two fantastic athletes that present a size advantage against our young smaller corners. Do we go soft zone? PLEASE NO!
Watch the Tight ends and slot receivers in this game as they should have some opportunities.
Defense: Neither team has been consistent here. They both have the athletes and both have big stops to their credit. But they have also given up the big play at crucial times. LSU has not lost because of it yet but UGA has. We'll see but I'm not making any predictions here. Just watch Rennie Curran as he's always around the ball.
Bottom line: This could be another shoot-out or a complete blow out. You don't know what you're going to get from either of these teams so if one of them finds their way it could get ugly. On the other hand, if both play sloppy like they have all season then it could be a back and forth battle till the end.
If you're an LSU fan, grab a corn dog. I'm going to have a victory cigar ready just in case we pull off the win. Overrated or not, I'll take a victory over the #4 team in the country any day! I just hope that we can pull this off and then stay focused in Knoxville next week because I could easily see us winning tomorrow only to fall flat next week...See 2004.
DAWGS 31 TIGERS 24
Grab a corndog, indeed.
ReplyDeleteHerschel, you going to the game?
ReplyDeleteLOLZERS. I could change every LSU reference to UGA and UGA reference to LSU and this post would be just as insightful. That doesn't speak to your fine, fine writing, but to the similar and terrible starts to each team's season. You guys have a loss against a bad team, but a couple of quality wins (ARK and ASU). LSU has ZERO losses, but a close-call against Mississippi State and a quality (yes, quality) win against the Huskies.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that they haven't yet succumbed when they easily could have says something more than getting drilled by Okie State in week one. But that's just Dick C'est Bon thinking like Dick C'est Bon.
As for corn dogs, I'll leave the tubed meat-grabbing to the true professionals in Athens.
And another thing ...
ReplyDeleteThe rushing stats from last week are distorted by two punts gone wrong: a safety through the back of the end zone and a ball snapped over the punter's head.
*The more you know*
You gotta give it up to Rambo on D last week, since Willy kept rotating players on D he had a chance to prove himself. And prove he did with some quality plays. GA draws First Blood in Sanford, then count it.
ReplyDeleteand to Dickcest there are no quality teams in the PAC 10, unless you're talking about USC. OK State can beat Washington easily it was Houston that gave them a problem, but that's college football. It's great. Go Dawgs!