Georgia, ranked ninth in the AP poll will play the sixth-ranked LSU Saturday between the hedges at Sanford Stadium in a game that has national championship implications. ESPN College Gameday will be returning to Athens for the first time since 2008.
The head-to-head series is 85 years old dating back to 1928. LSU leads it by 4 games with 16-12-1 record. This game marks the third time this season that the Bulldogs have faced a top 10 opponent (they lost to Clemson and beat South Carolina). Georgia is currently riding a 14-game home winning streak—the third longest in school history. A victory over LSU on Saturday would mark the first time in school history that the Bulldogs have beaten two top 10 teams in one year at Sanford Stadium.
Saturday will be the first game between these two historic programs since the 2011 SEC Championship, in which LSU thumped Georgia 42-10. In that game the Dawgs didn’t allow one first down in the first half and lead 10-7 at halftime. In the second half Georgia was simply outmatched by the No. 1 team in the country.
2013 may be a different story, as the two teams appear to be comparable in talent. The defenses lost arsenals of star players in the 2013 NFL draft and have had to go back to the drawing board. The offenses are led by quarterbacks Aaron Murray of UGA and Zach Mettenberger of LSU, who rank first and second in SEC passer rating, respectively. Each team possesses a dangerous ground game. Todd Gurley and Jeremy Hill rank third and fourth in rushing yards in the SEC, respectively, and will most likely be called upon early and often on Saturday.
This game certainly warrants the attention it has been receiving in part because Mettenberger once played for UGA before his dismissal from the team. Questions have naturally arisen, and head coach Mark Richt praised Mettenberger on how he has rebounded.
“I’m proud of how he responded to it,” said Richt. “He went to junior college and did extremely well, and he got an opportunity to come back and go to a place like LSU, which is a tribute to him and how he’s put himself in tremendous position for his future.”
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