Georgia football is gearing up for the biggest game of their season as the Ole Miss Rebels come to Athens Saturday afternoon. While it may seem strange to call Ole Miss the biggest game of the year, when factoring in everything that is on the line in this game it is easy to see why this is such a big game.
There are two reasons however that stand out compared to everything else as to why this game is so important for Georgia, because if they lose to Ole Miss their season is all but over.
1. SEC Championship hopes would be gone
If Georgia were to lose to Ole Miss this weekend, their hopes of repeating as SEC Champion would be all but gone. Sure Georgia won the SEC last season with two conference losses, but it would not be realistic for that to happen again this year.
Georgia's two losses this season would be to Ole Miss and Alabama who are both still undfeated in conference play. That means both Ole Miss and Alabama would have to lose three times for UGA to even make it to Atlanta, and that would be really unlikely to happen this far into the season.
2. Making the College Football Playoff would be a long shot
Georgia's hopes to make it to the College Football Playoff would also be a long shot as well. Last season the SEC learned that the formula to make the playoff is to finish 10-2 or better as multiple 3-loss SEC teams were left outside the 12-team field. So Georgia suffereing their second loss of the season with five games to play would make their life really difficult.
A few of Georgia's games left on their schedule would be very winnable, but their matchups against Florida, Texas and Georgia Tech are far from guaranteed wins. But they would have to win all five games to ensure that they make the playoff.
On the flip side, if Georgia were to beat Ole Miss then these two goals become very realistic. Georgia would be set up to not only make it to the SEC Champinship game but to make the College Football Playoff as well, just as long as disaster doesn't strike the rest of the season.
But considering Ole Miss is the most difficult game left on Georgia's schedule, the Bulldogs will be sitting pretty with a win on Saturday.