Georgia at Georgia Tech preview

1. Murray to Mason.

It wasn’t supposed to happen until August of 2014. But thanks to last Saturday’s season-ending knee injury to Aaron Murray, Georgia’s quarterback transition will take place Saturday. Mason played well in relieving Murray for the last 31 minutes against Kentucky next week. But facing archrival Georgia Tech in his first career start in a game known as “Clean Old-Fashioned Hate” is a different proposition all together.

2. Tackling not optional.

Once again the Bulldogs will be asked to slow down a triple-option football team. They’ve done it four times under defensive coordinator Todd Grantham and are 4-0 in those contests, three against Tech and one against Georgia Southern. But Georgia hasn’t exactly shut down the Jackets in those contests. They’re averaging 320 yards rushing and 431 total in those three games. And this is the youngest and most vulnerable defense the Bulldogs have brought it yet.

3 Still a rivalry.

It’s true that Georgia has won 11 of the 12 games against Tech under coach Mark Richt. But as Richt pointed out, several of those games could have gone either way. With the exception of last year’s 42-10 win by the Bulldogs in Athens, every other game against Paul Johnson’s Jackets has been undecided entering the fourth quarter. And Georgia players have emphatically stated that this remains their most fierce rivalry.

MATCHUP TO WATCH

Georgia linebackers vs. Tech B-backs:  Tech’s B-Backs are big, productive and represent the heartbeat of the Jackets’ triple option attack. David Sims (746 yards, 11 TDs) and Zach Laskey (446, 7) have carried the ball more than any other Tech backs. The responsibility of defending them falls on Bulldogs inside linebackers Ramik Wilson and Amarlo Herrera. “It’s real different,” said Wilson, who leads the SEC in tackles with 119. “It’s kind of annoying, you know, them trying to chop us. It’s going to be a real physical game and we’re going to be going after it. We’ve got to do our job, every guy.”

TWEETS OF THE WEEK

(Georgia QB Aaron Murray after being discharged from St. Mary’s Hospital on Wednesday)

@_Flight_31 (Georgia WR Chris Conley to a young friend)

HOW THE TEAMS MATCH UP