Although there will be seemingly endless fantastic football on this weekend, let's take a deeper look at the 2017 SEC Championship: the Auburn Tigers (10-2) vs. the Georgia Bulldogs (11-1). The two will battle it out in Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium at 4 p.m. EST. This is the second time that the two teams will be playing each other; the first time came on November 11th, in which Auburn absolutely laid the hammer on Georgia 40-17. That is Georgia's lone loss of the season. Auburn's two losses have both come on the road to No. 1 Clemson (14-6) and LSU (27-23).
The Tigers momentum has been absolutely rolling through the month of November after they dished Georgia their only loss and did the same to Alabama in the Iron Bowl, coming out on top 26-14. I'm a firm believer in momentum (especially in college football), and if you aren't, you're a fool.
Sure, Georgia only has the one loss to Auburn, and they've beat Kentucky and Georgia Tech handedly since then. But even Georgia's quality wins/strength of schedule have slightly diminished over the course of the season. That one-point win over Notre Dame certainly doesn't look as impressive as it once did, as the Irish have dropped to No. 15 after getting stomped by Miami and closing out the regular season with a two-point loss to Stanford. Beating the Irish isn't necessarily an easy win, but it's not as prestigious as it seemed a few weeks ago. Georgia's biggest win besides that one would be the 31-3 victory over Mississippi State, who was No. 17 at the time. Mississippi State is now No. 23 with four losses on their record.
The Bulldogs were ranked No. 1 in the first two editions of the College Football Playoff rankings before losing to Auburn. And although they haven't fallen past No. 7 in the rankings, the Tigers' stock has done nothing but risen since the week ten CFP rankings (other than staying at No. 6 for two straight weeks).
It's extremely difficult to beat a team twice in one season, but I don't see Auburn losing this one. Bovada currently has Auburn as three point favorites, which I think they'll cover. This season, Auburn is 5-6-1 against the spread and Georgia is 8-4 against the spread, but I'm letting momentum persuade me more than history. I'm seeing the over/under of this one set at 48; I'd personally take the under as both of these defenses are stacked. Georgia has allowed the fifth fewest points per game with 13.8. Auburn has allowed the ninth fewest points per game with 16.4. As I had mentioned before, the final score the last time these two teams met was 40-17. However, due to this being the second meeting, I think Georgia will be able to hang with the Tigers more than they did a few weeks ago.
Both teams are heavily reliant on their run game, as they both flaunt superstar running backs in Nick Chubb and Kerryon Johnson. Chubb has helped the Bulldogs greatly this season, rushing for a total of 1,098 yards and 13 touchdowns. Auburn's Kerryon Johnson has been even more impressive, tallying 1,276 yards and 17 touchdowns on the ground. Johnson is currently listed as questionable with a shoulder injury, and Auburn coaches have said he's day-to-day without actually saying if he'll play or not. In my opinion, this is a must-play game for Johnson. I fully expect to see him play on Saturday, whether that takes cortisone shots or just some good old fashioned grit. If he'll be fully effective remains to be seen, but I'll be shocked if he sits this one out.
Saturday. 4 p.m. Eastern Time. No. 2 vs. No. 6. Let's ride. If Georgia does pull this one off, there will be some questions to be answered regarding who will represent the SEC in the CFP between them and Alabama. But for now, that's all speculation. Let's see how this one plays out first.
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