Bulldogs will take the next step

You can expect the Georgia Bulldogs to continue their winning ways against Georgia Tech on Saturday.  Here's why:

Eye on the prize
The Bulldogs control their own destiny. While Coach Paul Johnson and the Yellow Jackets have 'bigger fish to fry' again with their ACC championship game coming up, Georgia has both SEC and National Championship aspirations. Georgia has been known to start slowly in the Mark Richt era in this game and have started slowly in most games this year, but Richt's Dawgs have not been caught looking past the Jackets. Part of the reason for the slow starts against Tech has been adjusting to the triple option and the frustrations of facing the cut blocking style. Playing Georgia Southern last week may help with that adjustment, but Tech will come at the Dawgs with better athletes than GSU brought last week.

Defense matters
Georgia's defense has continued to improve. The Bulldogs have allowed only 8.25 points per game over the past four weeks after early season struggles against South Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Tech probably needs to score 40 or more to win a high scoring shootout. The Georgia defense would have to digress and turnovers would have to contribute for the Jackets to run up that total.

More defense matters
There are two good offenses in this game, but only one good defense. Georgia Tech has put up 424 points this year and is the fourth leading rushing team in the country, but Georgia is only 10 points off that pace and has a much more balanced attack that ranks ahead of the Jackets in total offense. Expect Georgia to attack Tech through the air early, then use the running game once they build a lead. The Jackets rank ninth in the ACC in pass defense and have actually given up more points per game since firing Groh as defensive coordinator. They've picked off passes in 10 straight games, but there's a reason -- teams are throwing more against them. Both teams will score, but the difference will be turnovers and forcing defensive stops. Georgia has more high calibre, athletic players on the defensive side of the ball and that will show up over four quarters. Expect Jarvis Jones and Alec Ogletree to have huge games.

Field Position
If season-long statistics mean anything, Georgia should control the field position battle. Georgia Tech has struggled with kickoffs, kickoff coverage, and net punting average. Georgia forces opponents to punt 6.6 times per game while Tech is the 7th worst team in the nation (of 124) at forcing an opponent to punt -- only 3.4 times per game. The Jackets are 111th in the country in net punting and 110th in the nation in FG% with a season long of only 35 yards.

Not just a decade of success
It's Good, Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate. It's Senior Day for a cohesive group of Georgia seniors. The Bulldogs are undefeated (16-0) against Tech when they have won or shared the SEC or SEC East titles. The home crowd will not disappoint or leave disappointed.


GEORGIA 44, GEORGIA TECH 28