For all its bells and whistles, LSU’s offense has not seen a defense the caliber of this Georgia football team.
The SEC Championship Game is here, and the big story for this Georgia football game is LSU’s offense. They come into the game averaging 48.7 points a game, No. 2 in the nation, and quite impressive. However, the elephant in the room that some do not want to talk about is the equally impressive defense Georgia is bringing to the matchup.
Georgia’s rushing defense is No. 2 in the nation, giving up just 71 rushing yards a game. They have given up a total of just 16 explosive runs (runs over ten yards) all year. They gave up zero explosive runs to Notre Dame, Florida, Auburn, or Texas A&M. The Dawgs have also only given up two rushing touchdowns all season.
Georgia’s passing defense is No. 15 in the nation, giving up just 186 yards a game. They have given up five 250-yard games, but zero 300-yard games. They have given up just 11 passing touchdowns all season thanks to the play of guys like J.R. Reed.
Georgia’s scoring defense is also No. 2 in the nation, giving up just 10.4 points per game. The defense has not allowed more than 20 points in a game. They have also shutout three opponents and held five opponents under ten points.
According to this tweet by SportSource Analytics, Georgia is holding its opponents to just 40 percent of their average score.
** Relative Scoring Defense is an opponent-adjusted statistic for Scoring Defense that compares all of the teams equally, regardless of schedule. For example, if you allow 28 points against Ohio State and they typically score 56, you would receive a 50% rating for that game.
— SportSource Analytics (@SportSourceA) December 1, 2019
For example, LSU is averaging 48.7 points per game. If Georgia held LSU to 40% of their average score then LSU would score 19.48 points Saturday. Georgia averages 16 points a game to ranked opponents, so that would be right around their average.
According to Football Outsiders, Georgia’s defense is No. 1 against explosive drives. An explosive drive is a drive where that averages at least ten yards per play. Georgia has allowed an explosive drive in just 1.9 percent of its defensive drives. The defense is No. 3 in touchdown drives, allowing a touchdown on just 9.6 percent of their drives.
The best scoring defense LSU has faced all season was Florida. They are No. 8 in points allowed this year and they allowed LSU to score 42 points. LSU also played Auburn who is No. 18 in scoring defense. The Tigers from Alabama held the Bayou Tigers to just 23 points. So it’s not impossible to shut down LSU’s scoring barrage.
While it’s true that games are not won on paper and stats are meaningless until you play the game, it’s hard to argue against what Georgia has been able to do on defense this year. They are dominating their opponents. This level of suffocating defense is what championships are built on.
One reason why Georgia looks so good on paper is their ability to used multiple people on their defense. Kirby Smart uses multiple sub-packages in his defense along with a defensive line rotation that consists of around seven players. So they are able to rest guys and have fresh legs on the field at all times.
Georgia’s level of talent allows Smart to do this and not lose his competitive edge. The defense is loaded at every level with very talented athletes. Overlooking this defense in Atlanta would be a huge mistake for the Tigers or their fans.
All statistics via CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted