Georgia Football: Look for OLB’s to feast on LSU this weekend

Georgia Football takes on an LSU team this week that struggled to protect the passer last week so look for the Dawgs OLB’s to feast.

I might be alone, but I have a good feeling about the game tomorrow. I was nervous about the matchup in LSU before the season started. I was even more worried when the Tigers overcame Auburn in a slugfest a few weeks ago. But watching them flounder against Florida last week gave me some renewed confidence for the matchup. I really do think that the Georgia Football team has a great chance to win this game now.

The main reason for this change is simple. Good lord LSU’s offensive line looked bad last week. I mean seriously, Florida has a decent defensive group, but last week, they looked like All-stars. I’m not buying the ‘Florida’s pass rush is amazing’ hype. Todd Grantham has a good scheme and finds ways to get clean shots at the QB but it wasn’t that or raw talent that caused Joe Burrows problems. It was the fact that his offensive line could barely block to save their lives. Their performance was bordering on embarrassing.

And so that gives me hope for tomorrow. I’d take UGA’s pass rushers over Floridas any day of the week and twice on Sundays. Jachai Polite is a good player and we’ll look at him more in a couple of weeks, but D’andre Walker is just better. Maybe he doesn’t have the sack number that Polite has, but Walker can do more than just rush the passer. He’s become really good at stopping the run and can move all around the defensive front. He’s got the ability to rush from pretty much anywhere.

Then there is the depth that UGA has. Walter Grant has played really well in the role that he’s been given this season. He’s not sent after the QB very often but when he is, he pretty much always disrupts the play. Brenton Cox has been tantalizingly close to his first sack in Athens in basically every game this season. At some point, he’s going to get there and I wouldn’t be shocked if that was this week. Robert Beal and Adam Anderson have both shown flashes even if they are not seeing the field that much and Keyon Richardson has come from nowhere and is making plays.

I say it all the time but the Dawgs are loaded at OLB and that is bad news for LSU. Yes, their line should play better at home but they will be facing an even more talented group than they did the week before. Last week, they struggled mightily against speed and that is something that the Dawgs OLB’s have in spades. The more I look at the matchup, the more I think that this could be a real problem for the Tigers.

Georgia won’t sell out crazy blitzes like Florida did last week. Their defensive line will get pressure themselves and will make Joe Burrows uncomfortable. However, it will be the OLB’s that are most likely to collapse the pocket and cause him discomfort. Will that lead to a ton of sacks? I don’t know, Kirby Smart continues to focus on ‘affecting the QB’ rather than sacks as the goal of his defense. But it certainly should make for an entertaining matchup from a UGA perspective and will be something to watch out for during the game.