The Dawg Genius Behind the Georgia/Arizona State Game

A lot has been made in NCAA football this year about how difficult UGA's schedule is going to be this year.  Everyone is right.  The critics, the analysts, the fans, the haters. They're all right. 

After two cupcake victories and a win over perennial headache, South Carolina, the Dawgs travel to Tempe to play Arizona State.  UGA then gets to play four of their next seven games against teams ranked in the top 10 of the AP poll (as of Sept. 14)—with three of those four games being away from the comfortable confines of Sanford Stadium.  That's a strength of schedule that cannot be rivaled, even by other schools in the SEC.

With all of those games on the schedule, an objective viewer might say that UGA's biggest game could come this weekend when they travel across the country to play against the Sun Devils.  The reason is simple.  This is a statement game.

During the first small portion of this season, the majority of college football analysts have determined that the major players who could be in the BCS title game could be Southern California, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, and Wisconsin—with outside shots (meaning theses teams would need to win the remainder of their games to have a shot) being given for Texas Tech, BYU, South Florida, East Carolina, Ohio State, Penn State, and Oregon. 

Only one team on UGA's schedule this year is against a mutual opponent (outside of SEC competition) of any of the major BCS national championship contenders.  This week's opponent, Arizona State, will play against USC and Oregon after dealing with UGA.

Damon Evans, Georgia's Athletic Director, has provided the nation and pollsters with a statement game.  By traveling to Tempe and playing against Arizona State, UGA has the opportunity to give the voters a single degree of separation to USC (and to a lesser degree Oregon).  This will allow everyone to compare how UGA plays against Arizona State and how USC handles the same game when they get ASU three weeks later in Los Angeles. 

Especially if UGA loses to an in-conference opponent during the previously mentioned gauntlet of games, this game could keep the Dawgs alive for the BCS Championship game.

Expect Coach Richt to unleash his offense on the Sun Devils on Saturday evening.  Not only will UGA win, but they will run up the score as much as possible to make their statement that they belong in the national championship as much as any team.