Georgia Football: With First Half in the Books, Now It Gets Interesting

To date, Georgia has lost to the teams that were better than them and won against the teams they were supposed to beat.  In doing so, they are 4-2 and tied for first in the SEC East.  This is not a real surprise to me or most pundits out there.  Early on I stated that 0-2 was possible and that even at 0-2 we’d still be in the running for the SEC East Championship and that is exactly where we are.

Now it gets interesting.  Head coach Mark Richt has quieted the hot seat talk some by taking out Tennessee in Knoxville, but how good was Tennessee anyway?  They got manhandled by Florida who were manhandled by Alabama and LSU.  We will learn a lot more about Georgia in the coming weeks when we play three pivotal games against Florida, Auburn and Georgia Tech.  All three games should be winnable and we’re likely to be the dog in all three.

Florida has had our number for a long time now, but they’re in pretty bad shape and will be coming in off of three very hard games in a row.  Fortunately for them, they have the off week to rest up.  Fortunately for us, we do too.  If they are able to heal up some of their players, John Brantley especially, and don’t get any new injuries, then they should come in favored.  If Brantley is still out or is limited, look for Defensive Coordinator Todd Grantham to stack the box against their speedy duo, and dare them to try to pass.  He will make it very ugly for whatever QBs they throw out there.  In that scenario I see Georgia getting the win and the temperature on Richt’s hot seat cooling to a nice cool and comfy temperature.

The next challenge for Georgia will be Auburn.  They have had a very up and down year so far.  They lost to Clemson and Arkansas, but beat South Carolina.  With Florida and LSU coming before Georgia, they may be worn down as well.  If Georgia can get a win against Auburn, that will go a long way towards cooling off Richt’s hot seat even with a loss to Florida.  A loss to Auburn and Florida is almost unrecoverable for Richt.  We usually beat Auburn in Auburn and lose to them at home.  This is a home game for Georgia, but I still think we pull it out.

The last Challenge for Georgia will be facing a very strong Georgia Tech team.  Ranked in the top 15 right now, they may be the toughest team we’ve faced outside of Boise State.  Losing to Tech is a quick way for a coach already on the hot seat to find himself looking for a job.  The only possible saving grace would be if Georgia is headed to the SEC Championship game and Tech is a top 10 team.

My prediction for the end of the season is we lose a close game to Florida, just because we always do.  We win a tough one against Auburn, and we show Tech that Georgia still knows how to spoil their party.  If Florida loses to Auburn this week and South Carolina loses two more SEC games down the stretch, which they always manage to do, then that puts us in the SEC Championship game.  We will promptly lose to LSU in a game that isn't very close and end the season 9-4 with a SEC East Championship.  That keeps Richt for one more year, which is good because 2012 is shaping up to be a very good year... But more on that in another article. 

Even if Carolina manages to make it to the SEC Championship game, I think Richt is still in good shape as there is little chance of Georgia pulling out the W in the dome against the future National Champion.  In either case we go to a nice bowl game, somewhere around New Year and consider this a successful season.