Georgia has plans of defending its SEC championship crown and returning to the College Football Playoff for another shot at the national championship. On the field, the Bulldogs so far have looked the part, passing every test and winning in an impressive manner during their 6-0 start.
But the No. 2 team in the country is about to face its toughest stretch of the season, starting on Saturday at LSU in the SEC on CBS Game of the Week. The Bulldogs are favored by a touchdown, but no one in their right mind can confidently say that a victory against this LSU team, in Death Valley, is going to come easy. In fact, SportsLine's advanced computer simulation give the Bulldogs a 60 percent chance of winning the game straight up.
So even if Georgia gets in and out of Baton Rouge with a win, there are three huge tests that follow that are likely to determine where the Bulldogs stand in the SEC East and race for a spot in the College Football Playoff. Georgia has an off week then faces Florida in Jacksonville, travels to Kentucky to take on the upstart Wildcats and then finally returns to play in Sanford Stadium for the first time in more than a month when it hosts Auburn in the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry on Nov. 10.
In total, SportsLine's projections estimate that there is a 19.9 percent chance of Georgia going undefeated through that stretch.
| Opponent | Date | SportsLine's projected odds to win |
|---|---|---|
at LSU | Oct. 13 | 60 percent |
vs. Florida (Jacksonville) | Oct. 27 | 70 percent |
at Kentucky | Nov. 3 | 74 percent |
vs. Auburn | Nov. 10 | 64 percent |
The good news for Georgia fans is that the most likely scenario, according to the projections, is the Bulldogs going 3-1, which on its own would not technically eliminate them from contention for the SEC or the playoff, though the opponent for that theoretical loss would play the biggest factor in determining the end-of-season outcome.
| Potential Georgia record over next four games | SportsLine projection |
|---|---|
4-0 | 19.9 percent |
3-1 | 40 percent |
2-2 | 29.5 percent |
1-3 | 9.5 percent |
0-4 | 1.1 percent |
Georgia appears good enough that there is nearly a 90 percent chance of winning at least two of the next four games. It's the 80 percent chance of losing at least one of those games that's concerning for Bulldog fans as this grinding gauntlet kicks off on Saturday in Baton Rouge.
