Quotes
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| John Jenkins. LOL |
"Alabama's offensive line ain't nothing special. Barrett Jones is no different than any other center we've faced" - UGA Defensive Lineman John Jenkins
Those were quotes by Georgia players immediately following and the day after the Iron Bowl, when it became official that the Bulldogs were going to get Alabama in Atlanta 7 days later.
"It's just another game. That's the biggest thing I think that everyone needs to just remember, don't make the game bigger than what it is. You know, it's just another Saturday." - AJ McCarron
"They have a really strong front four. They have a lot of size, a lot of strength, a lot of quickness, and they play really well within their scheme. We have a big challenge, but we've been preparing hard all week. They throw a lot of different looks at you, and they're just very fundamentally sound on executing what they do, so that always makes it challenging because they don't beat themselves." - Barrett Jones
Alabama players are approaching this game all business. Georgia players are talking about how much "swag" they have and how much better they are than Bama. They did the same thing before the 2008 game.
The same thing Miami did before the 1993 Sugar Bowl. Coincidental that Mark Richt came from Miami, isn't it?
Georgia's 2012 season
The Bulldogs come into this game with an 11-1 record. The one loss being to South Carolina, 35-7. 35-7. That's worth repeating. 35-7. Good LORD how does a team get beaten like that the first Saturday in October, by ANYONE, and then make it to Atlanta?
Credit of course is due to Georgia for improving and staying the course. It is true that they have gotten better as the season has gone on.
They have faced a really tough schedule outside of that South Carolina game. Before they lost to the Gamecocks, they had to trudge through a difficult slate that featured Buffalo, Missouri, FAU, Vanderbilt, and Tennessee. Since the one loss, after a week off, they somehow got past the murderer's row of Kentucky, Florida, Ole Miss, Auburn, Georgia Southern, and Georgia Tech.
They are the only team to beat Florida, but Florida turned the ball over 6 times in that game and Georgia barely won. It took Florida's WORST effort to give Georgia that game.
Florida and South Carolina are the only good teams they played all year, so naturally their other games were all blowouts, right? Cause they are so dominant...
They beat Tennessee 51-44. They beat Kentucky 29-24. They gave up 23 points to Buffalo and 20 to FAU. Rambo and Jenkins are totally correct about their defense vs. ours.
This year's Georgia team is no better than last year's Georgia team. They are very good, but they are paper tigers.
With all that said, they have definitely played their best football since the Florida game, so this Georgia team will probably not be the one that gave up 63 points in it's first 3 games against little sissy teams.
Alabama's 2012 season
Alabama started the season off with a monkey stomping of the top 10 ranked Michigan Wolverines, in a game that Saban could've let them score 70, if he had wanted. The final score of 41-14 doesn't even convey how lopsided this game was. Denard Robinson looked about as effective as Jonathan Wallace was for Auburn.
The following 7 games were all blowouts, the only team coming closer than 20 points to Bama was Ole Miss, who lost by 19.
Then the 29-24 loss to the Aggies, where Bama completely shit the bed, having opportunity after opportunity to win that game. But that's our fault and we deserved to lose. Also, all credit and respect in the WORLD to Johnny Manziel, who is going to win the Heisman Trophy as only a Freshman. 3 more seasons of him. Dammit boy.
Western Carolina and Auburn both met the same 49-0 fate in games that could've both been alot worse if Saban didn't have a heart or didn't care about getting starters injured, etc.
Georgia players want to crow about their defense being superior to ours, but nothing could be farther from the truth, as I will fully illustrate in the next section.
Stats And Comparisons
Defense
Georgia's defense has allowed 1,961 rushing yards this season.
Alabama's defense has allowed 964.
Georgia's defense has allowed 2,093 passing yards this season.
Alabama's defense has allowed 1,880.
In 8 conference games, Georgia's D has allowed 1,019 rushing yards and 1,663 passing yards.
In 8 conference games, Bama's D has allowed 663 rushing yards and 1377 passing yards.
The most rushing yards Alabama allowed in a single month was 466 in November.
The LEAST rushing yards Georgia allowed in a month was 511 in October.
Alabama only allowed 129 rushing yards in the entire month of October. In 4 games. Total.
In 4 non-conference games, Georgia allowed 962 rushing yards.
In 4 non-conference games, Bama allowed 261.
And Bama was the only one of the two to play a RANKED non-conference team in Michigan.
Georgia's defense allowed 4,054 total yards and an average of 4.97 yards per play this season.
Alabama's defense allowed 2,804 total yards and an average of 3.90 yards per play.
I can totally see how Georgia's defense is SO MUCH better than Bama. I am officially terrified.
Offense
Alabama rushed for more yards than Georgia this season. 2,570 to 2,281.
Georgia passed for more yards than Bama with 3,283 to 2,626.
Georgia averaged 463 yards per game on offense, while Bama averaged 433.
Eddie Lacy has rushed for 1,001 yards. TJ Yeldon has rushed for 847. That's a combination of 1,848 between Bama's top 2 rushers.
Todd Gurley has rushed for 1,138 yards. Keith Marshall has rushed for 720. A combination of 1,858 between UGA's top 2 rushers.
Both Georgia and Alabama have a good 3rd option. Bama's Kenyan Drake has rushed for 273 yards, while Georgia's Ken Malcome has 272.
Could we be more evenly matched on offense?
OVERALL
The offenses are pretty much a draw, statistically. However, Alabama has the better offensive line of the two.
On defense, it's no contest. Rambo, Jenkins, and any other member of Georgia's D can run their mouths all they want, but the numbers do not lie. Alabama is head and shoulders above the Bulldogs on D. Rambo did say this was going to be a battle of the defenses. And on that point I say he is right. But it's not going to work out in his favor.
Gurley and Marshall will make a few great plays. They are bound to. And Aaron Murray will make some big passes. We leave enough space in the middle of the field that he's sure to at some point. Even though he is better throwing to the boundaries than across the middle.
At the end of the day, I don't believe Georgia can keep Alabama from score around 27- 30 points. And I believe that Alabama can keep Georgia under 24.
It could really get out of hand, and Bama could really run away with this one if things go certain ways. It could be 2008 all over again. But I think it will be more like the Alabama-LSU game this year.
My final prediction:
Alabama 30
Georgia 20
And then it's on to the beatdown that Notre Dame has coming.
Roll Tide!
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