After starting the season 0-2, the University of Georgia Bulldogs have run off four straight victories in an attempt to try to reach the SEC title game.
The Bulldogs started with a tough loss to the Broncos of Boise State.Now let’s be real here, Boise State is a darn good football team. The Broncos are one of the most talented teams in the entire country and definitely one of the best coached teams.
And if Georgia played Boise again, they would still lose, no question about it.
Boise is just an all around better football team, and it’s important for Georgia fans to realize that.
The next game was against South Carolina. Now this one was a little bit different.
South Carolina might have better plays than Georgia, they might be better coached, but they stole that win when they came to Athens earlier in the season.
Georgia outplayed them and should have won the game. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, South Carolina capitalized on some key mistakes that won it the game.
When it comes down to it, I think that Georgia should have started the season 1-1, just based on how they played in those games.
Surprising to me is what Georgia has been able to do since then, winning four straight games against some tough opponents (aside from Coastal Carolina.)
After destroying Coastal Carolina the Bulldogs went to Ole Miss and got a win over one of the worst teams in the SEC. That’s still nothing too impressive.
Their first opportunity to earn some respect back was when they hosted Mississippi State two weeks ago, winning that game 24-10. Defeating State got the Bulldogs some respect back, something that they desperately needed after dropping the first two games.
Next came a road clash against the Volunteers of Tennessee this past Saturday. The Bulldogs once again outplayed their opponent from play to play. Fortunately this time they did not make the key mistakes that would cost them the game.
What this comes down to is a golden opportunity for Georgia. The Bulldogs do not control their own destiny at the moment, although if South Carolina drops one more conference game they will.
As it stands right now, Georgia and South Carolina are at the top of the SEC East with a 3-1 conference record, with the Gamecocks holding the edge with the tie breaker.
UGA has to win the rest of their games this season and hope that South Carolina will drop a conference game somewhere along the way.
The next game for the Bulldogs is against Vanderbilt and it should be a win, but you can’t ever sleep on a team in the SEC. Following Vandy is the heated rivalry that is the Georgia/Florida game. If there was ever a time when Georgia needed to beat Florida, it would be this year.
If Georgia gets by these two games they get a break from conference play when they play New Mexico State, but then are thrown right back into the jungle when they host Auburn, another heated rival.
If they get by Auburn then they take on Kentucky. Beating both of these teams would finish their conference schedule and leave them with only one conference loss, once again hoping that South Carolina would drop a game somewhere along the way.
If all these things happen, then the Bulldogs will get to go to the SEC championship for the first time in a while.
And congrats Georgia, you would get to play either LSU or Alabama. Have fun.
Oh, and don’t forget that last regular season game against Georgia Tech. UGA usually handles the Yellow Jackets quite easily, but anything can happen in a rivalry game.
Not to mention that Georgia Tech is looking pretty good this year, should be interesting to see.
Tyler Rollason is a Winder-Barrow High School graduate and mass communications major at the University of West Georgia. You can e-mail comments about this column to trollason@yahoo.com.
