Bold Predictions: Georgia vs LSU

The Bulldogs will face off against LSU on Saturday for a shot at winning their first SEC Championship since 2017.

Author:
Christian Goeckel
Nov 30, 2022 11:24 AM EST

No. 1 Georgia (12-0, 8-0) enters as 17.5-point favorites over No. 13 LSU (9-3, 6-2) in the SEC Championship Game. While it may not be a bold take to predict Georgia to beat LSU on Saturday, there are still plenty of other fun storylines to watch.

Here are three bold predictions for the SEC Championship:

Georgia will hold LSU to under 100 rushing yards.

The Tigers have only been held under 100 rushing yards once this season. That came in their 40-13 loss to Tennessee, when LSU could only muster 55 yards. Georgia, on the other hand, has only given up 100 yards on the ground three times this season: vs Oregon (140), at Missouri (102), and vs Florida (100).

LSU knows they’re going to have to run the football on Georgia to win, but that’s easier said than done. Jalen Carter is a game-wrecker on the inside, and the rest of the defense is filled with sure tacklers. Potentially hindering LSU in this department is the health of quarterback Jayden Daniels. The Arizona State-transfer is currently dealing with an ankle injury and wore a boot earlier this week.

Georgia will rush for 200+ yards

The Bulldogs came into the season as a high-flying offense, throwing the football all over the field, but as the team got into the meat of SEC play, they began becoming much more balanced. Over the past couple of weeks; against Kentucky in frigid weather, and against Georgia Tech, Georgia has run the football roughly 2/3rds of the time, accumulating 511 yards on the ground.

Against an LSU defense that just gave up 274 yards on the ground to Texas A&M, expect to see Todd Monken dialing up the run early and often in this one.

Stetson Bennett will throw a touchdown to three different receivers.

Georgia red zone struggles have been well documented over the past couple of weeks. For whatever reason, the Bulldogs haven’t been able to pound the football in. This would seem like a good time for Monken to start dialing up some more play-action passes around the goal line.

Stetson Bennett has only thrown 3 touchdown passes in a game once this season, in Week 11’s 45-19 win over Mississippi State. In Starkville, Bennett connected with Ladd McConkey, Brock Bowers, and Darnell Washington for the scores. Expect to see those same guys get a lot of targets inside of the 20 on Saturday.