This upcoming weekend, UGA Football will be on their bye week of the regular-season stretch. Typically when on a bye week, a team will relax and regroup, preparing for who all is yet to come on the schedule.
For the Bulldogs, there isn’t much to look at (at least not when compared to what they have already overcome). One could easily argue that a mere decent team wouldn’t have too much to worry about when faced with what the Dawgs have in-store for themselves. However, when you’re the number one team in the country, it should look like a cakewalk.
There are five games remaining for Georgia in this 2021 regular season. They appear as follows: vs. Florida (Jacksonville), vs. Missouri, at Tennessee, vs. Charleston Southern (FCS), at Georgia Tech.
The trip to Jacksonville to face the Gators should undoubtedly be the toughest game to come. But even if so, Florida sits with three losses–one of which was to Kentucky, who the Bulldogs ran right through. So there really isn’t much here that should alarm UGA Football at all.
But nonetheless, we are going to dig a little bit deeper into each of these upcoming matchups. When looking to go undefeated and stay atop the rankings, there’s no such thing as being too cautious.
Vs. Florida Gators (Jacksonville)
As previously established, the Gators in Jacksonville is for sure as tough as the remaining slate will get. Because of this, Georgia’s open week could not have been placed any better.
By face value, the location for this matchup always sounds a little unfair; Jacksonville is still in Florida, after all. However, Bulldogs fans travel better than the vast majority of college football fanbases, and this game proves that every year. Not to mention that Gators fans have certainly lost some of their fire upon tumbling out of the rankings, while UGA has done nothing but gain traction.
But regardless of how bad a team’s record may look, you still have to consider who will actually be facing you on the gridiron. Florida still has some of the top players in the nation and showed great offensive prowess last Saturday that will surely put the Dawgs to the test. Gators head coach Dan Mullen also possesses one of the highest football IQs in the entire Southeastern Conference.
Georgia will probably get off to a slow start in this one just like they did when playing Kentucky. The cream will still manage to rise to the top, though, as Florida will feel nothing like an equal to this Bulldogs squad after four quarters.
Vs. Missouri Tigers
UGA Football will be traveling back to Athens with a big win under their belt. There they will face the mediocre-at-best Missouri Tigers. Mizzou currently sits at a record of 3-4, with their biggest win coming from a home game over…Southeast Missouri State. So it’s safe to say that the Tigers have not exactly passed many eye tests.
In their three league games so far (two of which were at home), Missouri has lost by an average of 22 points. These defeats hit their peak with a 62-24 beatdown, courtesy of the Tennessee Volunteers in Columbia.
Between now and their battle with the Bulldogs, Missouri will visit Nashville to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores (who looked relatively formidable against South Carolina last weekend). Especially after that, a road trip to Athens will feel like a death wish–and the scoreboard will make it look like one, too.
At Tennessee Volunteers
Neyland Stadium is renowned as a place that you do not want to have to visit. But as sad as it may sound, the scene’s notoriety has plummeted tremendously in recent memory.
The Vols fanbase is quite the rowdy bunch, and Georgia will notice that in the beginning. Yet similarly to the Gators game, a different vibe will be given off by the end of the affair.
It is possible that the Volunteers could give UGA some trouble when it comes to offensive capabilities, as the former has surpassed the 30-point threshold in five of their seven games so far this season. However, that still sounds a tad unlikely. While Tennessee appears offensively sound, they are yet to go up against a defense like Georgia’s.
Considering that the biggest game the Vols have played so far (by their standards) was a whooping on the road by the Florida Gators, it’s worth betting an arm that the Dawgs will have Tennessee feeling completely out of their element.
Vs. Charleston Southern Buccaneers (FCS)
One of sports writing’s biggest obstacles is having to take the time to “break down” a game like this one. It’s nothing personal against Charleston Southern, but their chances of even sniffing victory here are virtually nonexistent. In fact, ESPN is currently giving the Buccaneers only a 0.1 percent chance to pull off the upset in this one.
Realistically, the Bulldogs taking this one by less than 40 would be a darn shame unless the backups came in eccentrically early. An adequate score prediction should probably fall somewhere around 56-3 in Georgia’s favor.
[pickup_prop id=”10801″]
At Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
This game will serve as the perfect way for UGA to finish off their 12-0 run. The Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech share what is regarded as one of college football’s most hate-filled rivalries with the Bulldogs. The event is so renowned for the hatred that it’s even called “Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate.”
GT is hosting the affair, which will only increase the intensity of the meeting, especially when taking the tradition of the Ramblin’ Wreck into consideration. But all of that noise won’t stop the heavy load of Bulldogs fans from making their own impact. The atmosphere for this game should be magnificent.
Putting all gushing about the scenery aside, though, presents a more urgent matter: the game itself. Just how long will Georgia Tech be able to keep up?
The realistic answer, sadly, is not very long. The Yellow Jackets have looked like a solid team at the Atlantic Coast Conference level, and that’s not a good thing. Not only that, but they’ve shown multiple inconsistencies along the way. They’ve crushed North Carolina, but before that lost to Northern Illinois. How can someone accurately predict a team’s performance when they play like that?
Luckily, there doesn’t have to be much thinking this time around, as this isn’t just some name we’re talking about. Rather, we’re talking about the Georgia Bulldogs, the number one team in the entire country. The coaching, the talent, the fan presence, all of it points in their favor.
While yes, the gameday site should be nothing short of amazing, the Dawgs have no business even struggling to win this one. If Georgia wins by 20 points or more, considering both the rivalry and location, that should be a good enough note to end the regular season on.
The Takeaway for UGA Football
The Bulldogs are officially expected to win every game left on their schedule by resounding margins. As a result, they should enter the postseason stretch as the top-ranked team in America. They will be the only 12-0 in the SEC, and should subsequently be favored to win the conference’s title game. Assuming that they do so, they will be the top seed in this season’s College Football Playoff bracket.
