What a croc..especially the first paragraph. He predicts UGA upset just because he wants an upset somewhere this weekend, and this is the safest bet. UGA vs. Mike So, will the upset that history dictates happen in the SEC championship game? After all, Georgia is in the game ... Georgia clearly outplayed LSU in Baton Rouge in October ... it's being played in the Georgia Dome ... and Georgia is the underdog. So, why are so many SEC insiders discounting the chances of the defending champs? For one thing, LSU has improved a lot since the first meeting. The defense had little room for improvement and continues to match Oklahoma's crew in terms of consistent dominance. Nick Saban has shifted around his secondary and found ways to work around the absence of a dominant linebacker. That D-line is scary. Just ask Eli Manning. Or David Greene, for that matter. With the growth of the freshman tailbacks, LSU has almost obscene depth. Michael Clayton, Devery Henderson, and Skyler Green give Matt Mauck a trio of targets, and he's become more comfortable finding them. Mauck's sharpness (or lack of it) is still the X-factor with LSU. Like the Tigers, Georgia's defense has surrendered a measly 14 touchdowns in 12 games. The Dawgs are too tough and well-coached to ever get run out. But for some reason, these conference championship games tend to feature more offense and big plays than we expect. Saturday, just stopping LSU's offense may not be enough, though. Georgia needs turnovers, and the Tigers don't usually accommodate. Georgia also needs to make its field goals. Mop-topped kicker Billy Bennett missed three in the loss to LSU. One common factor is Georgia's rare regular season losses the last few years: Bennett misses. He is 10-of-21 in those six losses, but a very solid 56-of-71 in Georgia's wins. Again, guys like Tony Barnhart who cover the Dawgs regularly think LSU is just too tough. But there has to be an upset somewhere Saturday and this would be a mild one. You have to take a shot somewhere, so I'll say Georgia wins.
"Georgia clearly outplayed LSU in Baton Rouge in October" Hmmm...funny. I was at that game (in SEPTEMBER by the way), and that's not how it looked to me at all. Looked to me like two evenly matched teams, with the better team that day winning out.
Not one person can write an article that doesn't bring up the 3 missed field goals. What they are missing is it's NOT if he makes ONE of those field goals do they win. It's not if he makes TWO out of those three. He has to make ALL THREE. You are talking about going from 1-4 to 4-4, that's a big difference. If he misses any field goal, they still lose. Also, if Gaudet makes his field goal, none of the Bennett field goals matter. Morons, every damn one of them.
Incidentally, why does there HAVE to be an upset Saturday? Because Fowler says so? If so, why couldn't it just as easily be an upset of OSU over USC? THAT would be more in keeping with the single loss USC had this year.
History dictates it, according to most... Hell, Bowling Green hadn't lost a home game all damn year till last night...Wouldn't that qualify? Trust me fellas...We are going to have to MAKE our respect...We won't be given it... This is the way of all things...
Hilarious! The doofu...err, very, very nice AP voter who has publicly stated he'd consider voting LSU at #2 with an impressive win tomorrow...is a nice, stand-up guy who we all should admire! Yay Chris!
So Bennett is 66-91 (72 percent) in his career for GA. That aint' too impressive. Fowler is correct about the X-Factor being Mauck. In the games we have struggled (Georgia, Florida and Ole Miss), Mauck has basically not shown up for these games.
