College Football: Why Georgia and LSU Will Become Familiar Foes After Saturday

The LSU Tigers are the top-ranked team in the country and will be on their way to Louisiana for the BCS National Championship on Jan. 9th regardless of the outcome.

However, both LSU and Georgia are extremely young and will both be returning over a dozen of starters next season (most likely).

We saw Alabama and Florida face off two seasons in a row ('08-'09) and though a lot will be determined before next season's SEC Championship, I foresee these two lining up in the Atlanta Georgia Dome in the near future after Saturday.

Note: This is a look towards next season, hence the title

All-American Defenses

The 'Dawgs and Bayou Bengals will be featuring relentless defenses next season (no doubt this season, stats and play speak for themselves).

It helps to have ferocious front sevens, but looking at the young talent on both of these rosters is staggering. Georgia linebacker Jarvis Jones has 13.5 sacks on the season (second in nation) and will just be a junior next season.

Assuming he comes back he would make many First Team All-American teams and Bacarri Rambo will be one of the better defensive backs out there (strong safety).

LSU's Tyrann Mathieu, Eric Reid, Kiki Mingo, Sam Montgomery, Anthony Johnson and Michael Brockers are just a few of the future Sunday players in Baton Rouge that will be back for more next season.

Most, if not all, of these players will continue to be stars next season which might lead to an even better defense. The loss of Mo Claiborne will be tough, but Tharold Simon could arguably start on any team in the nation. 

LSU has the second-rated total defense in yardage and Georgia is ranked fifth, which makes it a scary thought for next season.

Explosive Offenses and Running Games

Freshman sensation Isaiah Crowell and Richard Samuel IV will both be back toting the rock for Georgia and there will be plenty of depth behind the two backs.

They were riddled by a few nagging injuries this season, though nothing too serious. It will be helpful that two returning starters plus a few legit backups return as well.

Oh yeah, that Aaron Murray guy returns and he may start to enter the Heisman discussion next season in Athens. 

For LSU, they will remain to have one of the better lines in the country on top of a plethora of backs to choose from.

Zach Mettenberger (former UGA transfer) will likely be the main guy entering spring practice and will have a boatload of weapons around him as well.

If Rueben Randle comes back for his senior season, the receiving corps will be tough to defend since most teams will load up the box to stop the run.

LSU (62nd) and Georgia (34th) do not have the most explosive offenses in the country this season, but that will quickly change next season.

Coaching Staffs

Les Miles and John Chavis are a killer combo right now and taking over for former offensive coordinator and current quarterback coach Steve Kragthorpe has been Greg Studrawa (tremendous job this season).

Mark Richt has been sensational since starting at 0-2. To have the stones and determination to go from 0-2 out of the gates and unranked to finishing the regular season at 10-2 by capturing the SEC East title is not something we talk about often because it's hardly ever done. 

Mike Bobo has handled the offense well, but Todd Grantham's defense has been quite the story this season.

They suffered through a ton of injuries and have a chance this weekend to show the world they are national worthy and relevant even if they lose a close ballgame.

These two coaching staffs very well could be game-planning against each other next season with the same stakes on the line, but perhaps both teams could be ranked in the top three where me might see yet another rematch in the BCS National Championship?

Well, here come the SEC haters ;-)