SEC BREAKDOWN: Georgia at LSU

Someone asked Mark Richt if he could recall a college football team ever doing what Georgia must do in the next eight days: play the past two national champions back-to-back.

“I had never thought of that until you just said it,” Richt replied. “Let’s just work on this first one, right?”

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Brant Sanderlin/bsanderlin@ajc.com

Mark Richt and the Bulldogs will have their hands full in Death Valley.

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AP

Les Miles and LSU bounced back from a loss against Florida to beat South Carolina last week.

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First up: 2007 champion LSU in Tiger Stadium, one of college football’s more hostile environments.

The game — the first between Georgia and LSU since 2005 — matches the SEC’s two winningest teams of the past five-plus years.

It matches LSU’s big and seasoned defensive line against Georgia’s young and injury-depleted offensive line.

It matches Georgia’s array of offensive playmakers against an LSU defense that hasn’t looked quite as stout as a year ago.

It matches two of the SEC’s top rushers, Georgia’s Knowshon Moreno (108.9 yards per game) and LSU’s Charles Scott (105.2), and two of the league’s top receivers, Georgia’s A. J. Green (81.9 yards per game) and LSU’s Brandon LaFell (77).

It matches two once-beaten teams that fared identically against their only mutual opponent, both beating South Carolina by seven points.

“Most guys when they come to Georgia are anticipating games like this, anticipating opportunities like this,” Richt said. “Here it is. So let’s get excited about it. Let’s have some fun with it. Let’s not let it paralyze us.”

And when it’s over, Georgia turns to the 2006 national champion: Florida, next week’s opponent in Jacksonville.

THE SEC SINCE 2003

Today’s game in Baton Rouge matches the two SEC teams with the best records in the past five-plus seasons. Records since the start of the 2003 season:

Team W-L Pct.

LSU 61-11 .847

Georgia 57-15 .792

Auburn 54-17 .761

Florida 51-19 .729

Tennessee 47-24 .662

Alabama 40-30 .571

Arkansas 39-30 .565

South Carolina 37-31 .544

Kentucky 30-37 .448

Ole Miss 27-39 .409

Vanderbilt 23-42 .354

Mississippi State 21-45 .318

RECENT MEETINGS

Georgia and LSU have played each other four times since 1999, twice in Atlanta and once on each campus. The games:

Date Circumstances Result

Dec. 3, 2005 SEC championship game in Atlanta Georgia 34, LSU 14

Oct. 2, 2004 Regular-season game in Athens Georgia 45, LSU 16

Dec. 6, 2003 SEC championship game in Atlanta LSU 34, Georgia 13

Sept. 20, 2003 Regular-season game in Baton Rouge LSU 17, Georgia 10

WHAT IF …

A Georgia win would …

• Be the Bulldogs’ third in a row over LSU.

• Be Georgia’s second in a row over a ranked opponent, following last week’s over Vanderbilt.

• Increase the hype for next week’s game against Florida to off-the-charts levels.

An LSU win would …

• Be the Tigers’ first over Georgia since 2003, when they beat the Bulldogs in both the regular season and the SEC championship game en route to the national title.

• Improve the Tigers’ record vs. top-10 teams to 9-3 under coach Les Miles.

• Set up a huge Nov. 8 game in Baton Rouge against Alabama, with a berth in the SEC title game likely on the line.

DAY OR NIGHT?

Georgia coach Mark Richt said he was happy today’s game was scheduled for mid-afternoon, rather than night, because it’ll allow the Bulldogs to arrive back in Athens at a reasonable hour.

There is, of course, another reason Georgia should prefer the afternoon kickoff: Tiger Stadium tends to be even louder and crazier at night, earning it the moniker “The Scariest Place to Play in America” from ESPN.com last year.

Since 1960, LSU has won 77 percent of its home night games (207-59-4), compared to 48 percent of its home day games (21-23-3).

It should be noted, though, that in recent years the Tigers have been tough to beat day or night.

Since 2000, LSU is 41-4 in home night games and 11-3 in home day games.

Today’s kickoff time was set by CBS, which will televise the game nationally.

None of the current Georgia players were on the team when the Bulldogs last played in Baton Rouge in 2003.

“I hear it’s crazy,” linebacker Darryl Gamble said.

“I’m looking forward to it,” fullback Brannan Southerland said. “I love playing in hostile environments.”

ON THE REBOUND

Georgia and LSU have lost one game apiece this season, but both losses were debacles.

Georgia’s, of course, came against Alabama, which took a 31-0 halftime lead in Sanford Stadium on Sept. 27 and won 41-30.

LSU’s came against Florida, which pummeled the defending national champs 51-21 in Gainesville on Oct. 11.

Georgia has won two in a row since losing to Alabama, and LSU rebounded from the Florida game with a win at South Carolina last week.

“I suspect [the Florida game] was a turning point and will call to life some dormant aggression and want to fight,” LSU coach Les Miles said this week. “I think that’s probably something unforeseen — but a positive — from that game.”

Miles said he believes LSU has “fixed some things” defensively since being routed at Florida. “I really enjoyed how the defense played in the second half against South Carolina,” he said.

The Bulldogs believe they, too, have progressed since their extreme loss, winning at home the past two weeks over Tennessee and Vanderbilt. But there were enough deficiencies in those wins — two turnovers in each game, two missed field goals vs. Vandy, red-zone problems vs. the Vols and third-down conversion problems vs. Vandy — to suggest more strides are needed.

“LSU is a really good team, and we know we’ve got to play sound football, not turn the ball over, things like that, to win,” Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford said.

THE NUMBERS GAME

4-5-1

Georgia’s record vs. LSU in Baton Rouge

22-2

LSU’s record in Tiger Stadium under coach Les Miles

27-4

Georgia’s record on an opponent’s field under coach Mark Richt, with one of the losses — the first, in fact — at LSU in 2003

31.2

Points per game LSU is scoring this season

31.7

Points per game Georgia is scoring this season

21.5

Points per game LSU is giving up this season

17.7

Points per game Georgia is giving up this season

39

Years since Georgia last played ranked opponents in three consecutive weeks (1969), as the Bulldogs are doing in the current stretch against Vanderbilt-LSU-Florida

DUAL QUARTERBACKS

LSU plans to stick with its two-quarterback rotation of redshirt freshman Jarrett Lee and sophomore Andrew Hatch today.

“You do have to know which one is in the game,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “They are different in their style of play.”

Lee is more the passing quarterback, Hatch more the running quarterback. Lee is the starter and plays the most.

“I think [the setup] gives them both a break,” LSU coach Les Miles said. “They understand they don’t have to manage the entire game as they are maturing in our offense and in the SEC.”

Against South Carolina last week, Lee completed 16 of 26 passes for 189 yards, while Hatch completed 2 of 3 for 10 yards and rushed five times for 19.

In any case, Georgia should have the advantage at quarterback. Junior Matthew Stafford leads the SEC in passing yards per game (242.4).

SCHEDULE EXTREMES

While Georgia will be playing the first of four consecutive games away from Athens today, LSU will be playing the first of five in a row at home.

It’s the Tigers’ longest home-stand in 38 years.

The stretch includes games against Tulane on Nov. 1, Alabama on Nov. 8, Troy on Nov. 15 and Ole Miss on Nov. 22.

INJURY REPORT

LSU defensive tackle Ricky Jean-Francois, the 6-foot-3, 289-pound MVP of last season’s BCS title game, has missed the past two games with a groin injury. But he is expected to play today.

“If you look at his film from a year ago,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said, “you just try to figure out how to block the guy.”

Meanwhile, the Bulldogs expect at least two players to return to action today: receiver Kris Durham, who has missed the past two games with an ankle injury, and defensive tackle Kade Weston, who sat out last week’s game with a sore knee.

Georgia started the week optimistic that middle linebacker Dannell Ellerbe and tight end Tripp Chandler would return from knee and shoulder injuries, respectively. That optimism had waned by late in the week, although neither has been ruled out.

Chandler said “it’s a 50-50 thing” whether he’ll play. “It’s definitely my goal to play,” he said.

Weston returns to action just as Georgia loses another defensive tackle, Brandon Wood, who is suspended from today’s game after being arrested in Athens last weekend on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol.

REWIND

Last week’s results:

• Georgia 24, Vanderbilt 14: Georgia dominated the statistics but not the scoreboard. Knowshon Moreno ran for a season-high 172 yards on 23 carries.

• LSU 24, South Carolina 17: The LSU defense held South Carolina to 42 yards total offense in the second half as the Tigers overcame a 17-10 deficit.