This week in the SEC was supposed to be rather uneventful. Truthfully, the Georgia at Missouri game was looked upon by many, including myself, as one that could be the most entertaining of the day. Well, it was entertaining, but it wasn’t even close to the most intriguing contest and, or outcome of this COVID altered 2nd Saturday in December.
Georgia dominated early, jumping out to a 14 point lead. The Dawgs then ceded momentum to the Tigers and were tied 14 to 14 before JT Daniels unfurled a long pass in the direction of George Pickens, who subsequently did George Pickens type things. After the impressive touchdown catch, it got late early, so to speak, for Missouri. Behind Georgia’s 4-headed monster at running back, and some intentional throws to Darnell Washington, the remainder of the 49 to 14 romp was never in doubt and lacked drama. However, postgame comments after by Kirby Smart and the LSU/Florida game provided plenty of that.
If there is one thing that Kirby Smart has never been afraid to do during his tenure as Head Coach at UGA, it’s sell his program. Smart did so masterfully in the postgame press conference. Smart was recruiting without mentioning names and he was also letting the powers that be and the talking heads of college football know Georgia is different now with JT Daniels at the helm. Smart sold how good his offense has been and can be by saying, “we’ve not reached out potential yet. Offensively, I keep telling our guys, we haven’t been stopped. We’ve only stopped ourselves.” The 5th year Head Coach also said, “you can never have too many big, athletic tight ends in the SEC.” That comment on the tight end position, combined with intentional feeding of Darnell Washington in the 3rd quarter are conveniently timed with Arik Gilbert having opted out at LSU and seemingly headed to the transfer portal.
Speaking of LSU, they played their most complete game of the season and crushed Florida’s hopes of a College Football Playoff appearance. Now, let’s be real here, they had no shot anyway become Alabama was going to, and is going to beat Florida like they stole something in th SEC Championship game. However, to see a LSU team that is under national scrutiny, in disarray, and playing a freshman quarterback in his first ever start, well that’s just unbelievable, and yet fitting of a Dan Mullen lead program it seems.
Georgia will likely climb in the CFP rankings after dismantling a Top 25 opponent on the road with Cincinnati idle. Florida will likely drop out of the Top 10. Cincinnati plays Tulsa next week, Iowa State plays Oklahoma, games both these teams ranked ahead they could lose, and Texas A&M plays Tennessee. It’s not unrealistic that the Dawgs could end up as high as 6 before all is said and done.