Georgia: the Beast In the East

Georgia has separated themselves. They are now the clear front runners of the SEC East, which is, at this point, theirs to lose.

They’ve had two convincing SEC road wins in a row, winning them by a combined score of 79-32, and to the surprise of many, they’ve done it without Todd Gurley.

For six straight quarters, the Bulldogs defense was dominant, stuffing the run and picking off passes, giving the offense short fields to take advantage of. Save a second half surge by Arkansas, Georgia could have made it a full two games of complete domination.

The Bulldogs, rallying together at the loss of its Heisman candidate and offensive spark, have seized control of a very muddled, confusing East division.

With Missouri’s strange but awesome win over Florida, and Kentucky’s somewhat surprising dismantling at the hands of suddenly recharged LSU, Georgia has asserted its dominance over the division.

But it didn’t always seem that way.

We shouldn’t forget that this Georgia team, with Todd Gurley, lost to a pedestrian South Carolina team back in September. They almost lost to an equally mediocre Tennessee two weeks later.

Up until a road trip to Columbia, Missouri, Georgia’s most impressive win was against Clemson in the first week. From there, they had a hard time establishing any dominance in an unusually weak SEC East.

Until recently, Georgia had not been flexing its true muscle. And I’m still not sure that they really have. Even without Todd Gurley, this team is extremely talented, and should compete with anyone in the nation.

And with their talent and the decreasing overall level of play in the East, Georgia has everything in front of them. They should run away with the division.

Missouri and Florida are too turnover-prone and inconsistent at the quarterback position, South Carolina’s defense is horrendous, Tennessee is too young and has no depth, and Vanderbilt is, well, Vanderbilt.

Even Kentucky, who is on an upswing, just hasn’t quite reached the overall talent level to make a real run at the SEC title. They’re close, but it’ll be another year.

So this year belongs to Georgia, and they’ve proved it the past two games.

As soon as the news broke about Todd Gurley’s suspension, I believed the Bulldogs’ chances at winning the SEC East took a significant tumble.

Georgia believed otherwise.

Nick Chubb has filled in extremely well in Gurley’s absence, running for 345 yards and three touchdowns. Hutson Mason hasn’t been flashy, but he’s managed the game well and taken care of the ball (five total touchdowns with no turnovers the past two games).

The Bulldogs defense has been a terrific compliment to the bruising run game all season, forcing 17 turnovers, and holding opponents to averages of 320 yards and 20 points through seven games.

All across the board, Georgia has proven to be one of the most talented teams in the country, even when replacing the SEC’s all-time leader in passing yards and touchdowns.

And they chose to perfect year to be a “wow” kind of team.

Having already posted a 4-1 mark through five conference games, the worst is certainly behind the Bulldogs. The only remaining conference game that is a real threat is visit from fifth-ranked Auburn, after run-ins with Florida and Kentucky, who both look easily beatable as of late.

If Georgia wins out, they’re in Atlanta at the end of the season for sure. And even if they drop a conference game, most likely to Auburn, the Bulldogs own the tiebreaker with Missouri, and I highly doubt that Kentucky can avoid its third conference loss against Mississippi State this weekend.

So barring any colossal screw-ups down the stretch, Georgia has their division locked up.

If they can get out of their own way, there’s no reason they can’t run away with the SEC East. The rest of the division certainly doesn’t look good enough to stop them.