It’s not often these two teams face off. In fact, they haven’t faced off against each other inside Tiger Stadium since 2008. LSU’s coming off of a tough loss while the Bulldogs have been rolling all season long.
Without any further ado, let’s get to the preview of the big ballgame against the LSU Tigers and the Georgia Bulldogs!
Last Time Out:
The last time LSU took the field, they came up short against the Florida Gators in Gainesville, losing 27-19. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs had a little easier challenge when they hosted Vanderbilt and rolled to a 41-13 win to remain undefeated.
Last Meeting:
The last time these two teams faced off was back in 2013 when Mark Richt pushed Georgia past LSU in a 44-41 ballgame. It’s been a highly contested series between these two programs with the Tigers holding a 16-13-1 series lead and have won three of the last four matchups, including a 42-10 thrashing in the SEC Championship Game back in 2011.
Storylines to Watch:
Stop Jake Fromm:
The LSU Tigers front seven will need to step up in a big way on Saturday and bring the pressure to Jake Fromm. The sophomore had to deal with a lot of noise surrounding freshman Justin Fields all fall camp, but he showed that pressure can create diamonds as he’s put together a solid statline through six games. Yes the competition hasn’t exactly been the best in the world, but he has shown the ability to get things going offensively for the Bulldogs in 2018.
That being said, the Tigers front seven needs to bring pressure to this vaunted offensive line and with the returning Jacob Phillips, it could be done.
Phillips Big Factor Defensively:
Speaking of the sophomore linebacker, LSU’s defense sans Phillips had a hard time getting after the quarterback. We saw them unable to get a sack and that’s with Devin White still a part of that defense for much of the ballgame.
Phillips has been a spark for that defense all season long (see: the Miami game) and I’d expect him to return with a vengeance and help get some pressure on Fromm.
Bounce Back for Burrow:
The world of sports, especially football, is all about what have you done for me lately and what Joe Burrow did last weekend in the final moments against Florida was less than ideal throwing his first two interceptions of his career. That might cause some QBs to have the yips the following week and shake their confidence.
Ed Orgeron and the rest of the coaching staff have put the loss behind him, but the biggest question for this team has to be if Burrow has put those two picks, especially the pick-six behind him and will help this team get a huge win.
LSU Will Win If:
The Tigers can pull of the mild upset inside Death Valley if they can keep Burrow upright. The offensive line is going to be tested once again and will need to put together a complete ballgame if they want to keep Burrow protected.
Georgia Will Win If:
The Bulldogs can remain undefeated if they can establish the run game. There’s no Sony Michel or Nick Chubb in the backfield and will need D’Andre Swift and Elijah Holyfield to get the ground game rolling. Look at what happened in the Florida game and you’ll see that there are some deficiencies in LSU’s run defense and that could prove problematic
-Clint Domingue