Tailgate show: 11:30 a.m. on News/Talk WSB
Kickoff: 3:30 p.m.
Location: Sanford Stadium - Athens, Ga.
TV: CBS
Line:
Series History: LSU leads 16-12-1 (First meeting 1928)
Last Game: 2011 SEC Championship (No. 1 LSU 42, No. 16 Georgia 10)
- The good news, Georgia was in the SEC Championship game. The better news, they were up 10-0 with less than six minutes left in the first half. And that was it.
- LSU DB Tyrann Mathieu ran back 62 yard punt return for a TD, the first of 42 unanswered points for the Tigers.
- LSU scored 42 points on 237 total yards and 30 passing yards. But the Tigers ran for 207 and forced three turnovers.
- Aaron Murray was 16-for-40 for 163 yards. He threw one TD and two INTs
2013 Records: LSU (4-0, 1-0 SEC), Georgia (2-1, 1-0 SEC)
WHAT'S AT STAKE
A big boost in the national championship race, especially for Georgia. If the Bulldogs can beat a couple of Top 10 teams in the opening month of the season (they already knocked off then-No. 6 South Carolina), they would be in good position to claim a spot in their third straight SEC championship game. LSU has a much tougher schedule the rest of the way, including games against No. 1 Alabama and No. 10 Texas A&M.
KEY MATCHUP
Georgia's young defense vs. LSU's running game. If Jeremy Hill and the Tigers are able to run the ball effectively, it will open up things for Zach Mettenberger and the passing game. Hill is coming off a career-best 184 yards and three touchdowns in a victory over Auburn. The Bulldogs, who have three freshmen starters, struggled against South Carolina and Clemson before limiting North Texas to 7 yards rushing last week.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
LSU: QB Zach Mettenberger. The Georgia native grew up wanting to play for the Bulldogs and started his college career in Athens. His mother, in fact, still works for the school in football operations. But Mettenberger was kicked off the team in 2010 after legal issues over his treatment of a woman in a bar. He's already thrown 10 touchdown passes this season, the most in LSU history for the first four games of a season.
Georgia: RB Todd Gurley. Georgia's high-powered offense (40.3 points a game) is based off an effective running game led by Gurley and fellow sophomore Keith Marshall. Gurley has rushed for 377 yards and four touchdowns over Georgia's first three games, breaking 100 yards twice.
FACTS & FIGURES
This will be the first meeting between the teams since LSU defeated Georgia 42-10 in the 2011 SEC championship game. Their last regular-season matchup came in 2009, when LSU knocked off the Bulldogs 20-13 at Sanford Stadium. ... Georgia is just the fourth team in the BCS era (since 1998) to play three Top 10 teams in its first four games. ... LSU has won 29 straight games in September since 2006. ... The Tigers have scored at least 30 points in their first four games for the first time since 1928 and only the third time in school history. ...Georgia QB Aaron Murray has 102 touchdown passes in his career, 12 shy of the SEC record held by Florida's Danny Wuerffel.
2013 Schedule
Week | LSU | Georgia |
1 | Vs #20 TCU (W 37-27) | at #8 Clemson (L 38-35) |
2 | Vs UAB (W 56-17) | vs #6 S. Carolina (W 41-30) |
3 | Vs Kent State (W 45-13) | OPEN |
4 | Vs Auburn (W35-21) | Vs North Texas (W 45-21) |
5 | At # 9 Georgia | vs #6 LSU |
6 | At Mississippi State | at Tennessee |
7 | Vs Florida | vs Missouri |
8 | At Ole Miss | at Vanderbilt |
9 | Vs Furman | OPEN |
10 | OPEN | #20 Florida (in Jacksonville) |
11 | At Alabama | vs Appalachian State |
12 | OPEN | at Auburn |
13 | Vs Texas A&M | vs Kentucky |
14 | Vs Arkansas | at Georgia Tech |