Han Vance on Georgia football: Every offseason, I look at the rivals for Georgia and rank them according to their current power position in the minds of Georgia fans. Considering what has already occurred this season, the two opponents remaining on the Georgia schedule each deserve more of our ire as fans.

LSU again failed to qualify for the SEC championship game to be played at Mercedes-Benz stadium at the start of December in Atlanta. While Georgia has lost to LSU twice in the league championship and taken them out in an upset once (2005), without LSU on the docket for many years to come, and without them showing any signs of besting Alabama, or the occasional powerful Auburn team that gets it all together and runs all over the SEC West, LSU is a non-story for Georgia fans. Bayou Bengals bashed Bulldogs in Tiger Stadium on the bayou, and that’s the last we will see of LSU. Defending SEC champion Georgia is contending for SEC championships and therefore national championships. LSU isn’t.

The rematch of the national championship game ensures the essence of the SEC is Bama-Georgia. It was a two-team race this year, after all. The early season prognosticators always favor the results of the previous year nearly-repeating again way too much, and they almost never do. They did here.

Georgia and Alabama are almost exactly where they were at this time last year. Alabama are undefeated and #1 heading into the Iron Bowl, the lone exception being old Auburn wet the bed early and the Tide won the West. Georgia lost their tough road spot out of division and won out otherwise, again, took the East behind running the football and playing defense. Same story as last season.

Georgia and Bama were on the single biggest collision course in the nation from the end of the college football season through the end of November. The game will happen to them. I mean, it will happen. The computer simulation projections give Georgia about a one-third chance of winning. That’s a number that often hits, and a power running team always has an advantage over any passing team.

With Georgia sweeping the SEC East easily for two straight years, the rivalries at Florida and Tennessee are somewhat lessened. Until Florida rebuilds to the level that they can play a full-length competitive game in front of a full section of their fans in Jacksonville, until those checkerboards have a more strongly negative connotation for Georgia fans, again, they are speed bumps in our rearview.

While the Auburn series always matters because it is so old, Florida matters more because of the Cocktail Party game. Georgia versus Georgia Tech always matters because it is in-state. Hard to have a great year and not be state champs, unless you are Bama. The Georgia-Alabama rivalry only needs one Georgia win to come to full ignition.

Win the state. Win the league. GO DAWGS!