Georgia Football: Why the Bulldogs Have the Easiest Road to an SEC Title

The Georgia Bulldogs are a team that not only has a great chance to win the SEC, but they should also compete for a national championship this season. Returning a total of 15 starters, including nine on the defensive side of the ball and the quarterback, makes the Bulldogs a team to seriously pay attention to.

But when you have all of that talent returning and an easy schedule, the Bulldogs should be the overwhelming favorites to win the East Division and possibly the whole conference. In fact, you can probably say that if they don't end up winning the SEC this season, it was a failure of a season.

Here are a few reasons why Georgia has the easiest road to an SEC title this season.

No Tough SEC West Teams

I think we can all agree that the SEC West is the best division in all of college football. After all, it did feature two teams in the national championship last season.

Last year, Georgia was fortunate enough to avoid Alabama, but got whacked by LSU at the end of the year with a score of 42-10.

This season, the Bulldogs don't have to face LSU, Alabama or even Arkansas, all teams that have legitimate shots at the national championship. When you're able to avoid three of the top teams in the conference in one year, you'd better take advantage of it.

Georgia should, without question, be the favorite heading into every game this season.

No Tough Road Tests

In college football, playing on the road is a true test to see where a team is. There simply aren't many sports that have a home-field advantage the way college football does.

Georgia won't have to leave Athens many times this season, and when it does, it won't exactly be a difficult task. Georgia will have to play Missouri on the road, but questions on the defensive and offensive line and the recent injury to quarterback James Franklin makes this a game Bulldog fans shouldn't worry about too much. 

The Bulldogs have won six of the last seven in Lexington; the Wildcats shouldn't be a problem. They've also won three of the last five in Auburn, and with the young team Gene Chizik has, the crowd should be out of the game by the time halftime rolls around.

The Bulldogs will have a tough task in South Carolina, but if that's the only true road game they have this season, they'll take it.

Once again, it doesn't get much easier than this for the Bulldogs.

Tougher Schedule for Everyone Else

Let's say that there are five teams in the SEC that have a legitimate shot of winning the conference: Arkansas, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and LSU.

Sure, a team could catch fire and pull off a miracle, but every other team in the conference has serious questions heading into the season or are too inexperienced to take seriously right now. 

Georgia will have a tough game against the Gamecocks, but other than that, is there really another game that should worry Bulldog fans?

The rivalry game against Florida? The Gators lost both of their running backs and have no answer right now at quarterback.

The inconsistent Georgia Tech team? The Bulldogs have beaten them 10 of the last 11 games, including last season, and that game was in Georgia Tech.

Now, take a look at the other four teams' schedules:

Arkansas' games to worry about: vs. Alabama, at Texas A&M, at South Carolina, vs. LSU

South Carolina's games to worry about: vs. Georgia, at LSU, vs. Arkansas, at Clemson

Alabama's games to worry about: Michigan, at Arkansas, at LSU, vs. Texas A&M

LSU's games to worry about: vs. Washington (Don't sleep on that offense), at Florida, vs. South Carolina, at Texas A&M, vs. Alabama, at Arkansas

It's safe to say that Georgia has the easiest schedule to win the East on paper, and that alone gives the Bulldogs a great shot to win the conference.

Talent, Talent and More Talent

We know that the Bulldogs have one of the easiest schedules in the country this year, but they'll still have to play a team in the West to win the SEC. That's probably going to be Arkansas, Alabama or LSU.

That's when the talent kicks in, and Georgia has one of the more talented teams in the country.

This is a team that's returning nine starters on the defensive side of the ball. A defense that allowed only 277 total yards and sacked the quarterback 35 times. Georgia also has one of the top quarterbacks in the country in Aaron Murray, who threw for over 3,100 yards and 35 touchdowns in just his sophomore season.

The Bulldogs can compete with any team in the country and shouldn't just be one of the favorites to win the SEC, but the national championship as well.