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Sunday, October 17, 2010

The wacky (and winnable?) SEC East

The Georgia football team woke up Saturday morning just trying to salvage something out of what seemed destined to be a lost season.

It woke up Sunday morning a half-game out of first place in the SEC East.

Now, in reality the Bulldogs are more like 1.5 games out, considering it owns a loss to first-place South Carolina. And with a trip to unbeaten Auburn still on the schedule, any division title chances are still long.

Still, after a crazy night of upsets, they now have a glimmer of hope.

Here are your new (and if you’re Georgia, improved) standings, and their remaining schedule:

South Carolina (2-2) – at Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Arkansas, at Florida
Georgia (2-3) – at Kentucky, vs. Florida, at Auburn
Florida (2-3) – vs. Georgia, at Vanderbilt, South Carolina
Vanderbilt (1-2) – South Carolina, at Arkansas, Florida, at Kentucky, Tennessee
Kentucky (1-3) – Georgia, at Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, at Tennessee
Tennessee (0-3) – Alabama, at South Carolina, Ole Miss, at Vanderbilt, Kentucky

Georgia would probably need to win out to have a realistic chance. But as crazy as it seems, there’s still a chance of a four-loss team winning the division, in some sort of tiebreaker.

Georgia’s best hope would seem to rest on beating Florida, and having the Gators beat South Carolina, to create a three-way tie at 4-4. If head-to-head tiebreakers are a wash it then goes to division record, and the good news for Georgia is two of its three SEC losses are to West teams.

The division title is still likely to come down to the South Carolina-Florida game on Nov. 13, in The Swamp. But Georgia and Kentucky can’t be ruled out, meaning their tilt on Saturday is a loser-out scenario.

Yeah, the whole idea of Georgia winning the East is still far-fetched. But not as much as it was before Saturday night.

17 comments:

Chris said...

Am I the only one that doesn't think it's that far fetched? The way Georgia is playing now, they can compete with anyone. Murray is getting better and better every week. Maybe I'm delusional, and I'm not saying Georgia will win out, but they will compete in every game and be in it (not something you could've said a couple of weeks ago). It will all come down to that SC vs. UF game.

Allen said...

I don't know if i'm wrong or you're wrong Seth, but if we beat fla, and fla beats sc, that'll give fla 4 conference losses and us and sc 3. The tie breaker will go to sc. But if sc loses to fla and arky, and we win out, we'll go. Also doesn't Vandy control their own destiny (for fun).

Seth Emerson said...

Allen, we're both right. Either South Carolina loses twice more, and finishes in a three-way tie at 4-4 with Georgia and Florida, or Georgia wins out. Either way, the key is South Carolina losing twice more. That doesn't happen, Georgia can't win the division. (Unless, as you say, Vanderbilt figures into the equation by winning out.)

Matt said...

If we win out, and Florida beats South Carolina, then wouldn't we win the east? I mean, USC would have 3 losses: kentucky (east), Florida (east), and Auburn (west). Florida would have 4 SEC losses and would rule them out, and GA would have lost to MSU(west), USC(east), and Arkansas (west)....

With USC losing to 2 east teams, and GA to 1 east team, wouldn't we get the nod into the championship game?

Anonymous said...

Head to head would be the first tie breaker, then divisional record. Georgia needs to win, and root for South Carolina to lose. South Carolina could very easily lose to Arkansas and Florida. Even the Tennessee game isn't a sure thing. Florida losing really hurt us last night.

Willb said...

Anyone else scared to death of Kentucky??? They have some serious weapons over there! I'm more scared of them than fla! Actually every sec team from here out there all really good teams.

Fla might look like they suck but they might have more talent than anyone in the nation. Auburn is all about cam newton. Without him they would be very beatable. Maybe he gets injured with all that running he does and we don't have to face him?

I believe that as far as talent goes we have had more talent on our roster than anyone on our schedule outside of fla and they look terrible. Were coming together and there falling apart.

If we truly did put it all together with the talent we have on this team we should win out!

Also am I the only one who will get a lot more excited watching these games knowing a ga loss would still count for something? I know it's a longshot but we have something to play for now. Remember the 07 season? The whole NCAA was like the east. We were one loss away from the nat title game without even winning the east! Anything can happen. But even if we don't win the east winning out would make me a very proud dawg fan!

Todd said...

Auburn has no defense. If we can stop Cam Newton, we can beat Auburn. Of course, that's a big IF.

PTC DAWG said...

Looks like Vandy and South Carolina are the only teams that control their own destiny.

Who would have thunk it?

Anonymous said...

Realistically I just don't think winning out is possible. Kentucky and Florida, MAYBE. Auburn is just too physical with Cam Newton. If we couldn't stop Lattimore and Relf (who is slightly smaller and half the talent as Newton) from running all over us/averaging 4+ yds a carry, Newton will practically seal his Heisman campaign against the Dawgs.

Remember this is the same team that started 1-4 (including a loss to a mediocre Colorado team) with people chiming for Bobo and our strength and conditioning program to be let go.

Beating Tenn and Vandy were must needed wins, but they can't be considered true tests.

BulldogBen said...

Agreed with last post in that Vandy and UT are terrible. We are still a VERY flawed team and dreams of winning out simply aren't realistic.

Still this kind of speculation just makes me even more bitter over the Arkansas loss.

William Neilson Jr. said...

Is it possible? Sure

But any UGA fan thinking we just beat UK, UF, and AU....is just glossing over the fact that AU is playing better than us...UF owns us...and UK beat us last year at home

It will not be easy

Anonymous said...

We don't have to beat AU....if we beat KY and FL, and SC loses to ARK and FL, then we win the tie-breaker.

Anonymous said...

While we're indulging in newfound possibilities, here's another. Richt still has a chance to reach 100 wins in 10 years. It'll involve UGA winning out, USC losing twice, Georgia then winning the SEC championship and following all that up with a bowl win.

I could happen. And later on, monkeys might fly out of my butt...

bulleagle said...

well, anonymous OCTOBER 17, 2010 6:00 PM, if/when the former happens, please go somewhere private and keep the spectacle of the latter to yourself, so as not to rob any media attention and glory from our dawgs!

Anonymous said...

Hogwash Seth

Oh, I feel much better now.

South Carolina with 2 fewer SEC losses than Georgia, needs what ?

You want South Carolina to LOSE to Arky with no defense AND LOSE to Florida with no offense

...while we beat Auburn, Kentucky AND Florida

B.S.

If South Carolina beats Arky OR Florida, it is OVER.

Never mind what we do

Of course, us beating Florida (but you want Florida to beat South Carolina - what's wrong with that pic)

AND, us beating Auburn who beat South Carolina who beat us also requires us to beat KY who beat South Carolina

I have heard a load of hogwash in my days on the Internet,

MOSTLY ON GET THE PICTURE by Bluto

But, this takes the cake.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

"We don't have to beat AU....if we beat KY and FL, and SC loses to ARK and FL, then we win the tie-breaker."

October 17, 2010 3:57 PM

WRONG. If we lose to KY, FL OR AU, we are done no matter what South Carolina does.

Why did all of you'll let him say that ?

WRONG.

And, why did no one point ANY of this out, either - Pray Tell ?

UGA SEC Rank :

# 7 SEC Scoring Offense

# 9 SEC Quarterback Sacked by Opponent

# 6 SEC First Downs

# 8 SEC Third Down Conversions

# 7 SEC Fourth Down Conversions

# 8 SEC Touchdown Percentage in the Red Zone

# 1 SEC Settling for Field Goals

# 9 SEC Point After TD Scoring

# 6 SEC Average Yards per Play

# 8 SEC Touchdowns Scored

# 1 SEC Time of Possession, despite Defense handing the ball to the Offense, the Offense is one of the very worst Offenses in The SEC.

We don’t score Touchdowns, don’t make 3rd Downs, Settle for Field Goals, get Sacked, and don’t Score. Other than that, Aaron Murray is just awesome at 3-4.

The ONLY blog worse than this one, is Bluto's GET THE PICTURE

Anonymous said...

NO, he is RIGHT! Did you not read the article?? If we beat Kentucky and FL and SC loses to Florida, then the head to head will be a wash. The 3 of us will be tied at 4-4 and the tie-breaker will go to us because we have a better record against division opponents.