SEC Championship Game: Does Mark Richt Have a Coaching Advantage over Les Miles?

The Georgia Bulldogs are big underdogs in this week's SEC Championship Game against the undefeated LSU Tigers. Many people aren't even giving Georgia a chance to win this game as the Bulldogs resume this year isn't even close to the Tigers.

LSU may have the advantage as far as their talent at most positions, but what about the guys roaming the sidelines?

Les Miles has a 74-17 record at LSU and has won five of six bowl games including a national championship. This is the fifth time in seven years where he has won double-digit games.

Mark Richt, on the other hand, has a 106-36 overall record at Georgia and has won seven of 10 bowl games.

Many would say that Les Miles has been the best coach this season because he has led his team to an undefeated record with a schedule that was absolutely brutal. He has also kept his team 100 percent focused on the task at hand as his Tigers have had to deal with off the field issues all season.

That being said, Richt hasn't done such a bad job this season, either. The Bulldogs lost the first two games of the year and he had to deal with talks about his job security. Instead of caving in to the pressure, he was able to win the last 10 games of the season and make the SEC Championship Game.

The Bulldogs haven't had to deal with the schedule that the Tigers have. In fact, they've only beaten two ranked teams all season. However, you can't deny that winning 10 consecutive games in the SEC is pretty impressive.

I'm not sure that Richt has the advantage over Miles in this game, but he does have two things working for him.

One is that Richt has been to the SEC Championship Game several times before. This will be his fourth time in said game, which he has won twice before. What's more, one of those victories came against Les Miles in 2005.

Richt has always been a coach that doesn't really like to gamble much and that may work in his advantage as well. Miles is a coach that takes a ton of risks and, while they have regularly come good, it may finally catch up to him.

If we're talking about experience and being conservative, Richt has the advantage. Miles has the advantage as far as being lucky at times and getting his team to respond around him, though.

I'm not sure which traits you would rather have heading into this game, but one of them is going to pay off for somebody on Saturday.

Randy Chambers is a B/R Featured Columnist that covers College Football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail]