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Georgia Bulldog Opposition Research, Week 6: Happy Days Are Here Again! (At Least Temporarily)

Now that Georgia's figured out how to win again, how does the rest of the season look?

What a difference a week makes: After delivering a 41-14 beatdown to Tennessee last Saturday, all of a sudden it looks a lot less likely that the Dawgs will do something like, you know, go 2-10 this year. Here's the scoop on what our opponents have been up to.

VANDERBILT
The Commodores were on the winning end of a 52-6 blowout last week, but it came against Eastern Michigan, who hasn't won a game in nearly two years and quite frankly would be hard-pressed to finish better than mid-pack in the Ohio Valley Conference.
Worry level: Steady.

 

KENTUCKY
From the perspective of the Dawgs, who have to travel to Lexington next week, Kentucky's 37-34 loss to Auburn was a good-news, bad-news situation: good news in that the Wildcats' once-formidable offense was handled by a so-so Auburn D until the game had just about gotten out of hand, bad news in that UK still found the fortitude to storm back and make a game of it in the second half. With Caleb King serving out the second half of a two-week suspension for this game, it's not one Dawg fans can afford to get too comfortable about.
Worry level: Steady.

FLORIDA
While Georgia fans were basking (and drinking) in the celebratory glow of the win over the Vols, Florida fans were getting their hearts ripped out by yet another oh-no-he-dih'ent play from Les Miles and dousing their Steve Addazio voodoo dolls with kerosene. How much Cocktail Party optimism can Bulldog Nation expect to take from this? If the past 20 years are any indication, not much.
Worry level: Steady.

IDAHO STATE
Fell to the Montana Grizzlies by a not-all-that-embarrassing score of 47-28. That would be the Montana team that came within an eyelash of going 15-0 and bringing home another D-IAA national championship last year, but that's still nowhere near enough to make this game Georgia fans should worry about (unless one of our players is found to be operating a stolen-car ring in Clarke County, which honestly wouldn't be the most surprising thing that could possibly happen at this point).
Worry level: Steady, and nonexistent.

AUBURN
While everyone's marveling at the miraculous escapes Les Miles has made from certain doom all season long, let's keep our eyes open for a four-leaf clover on the Auburn sideline, too -- Saturday night's last-second-field-goal-driven victory over Kentucky represented the Tigers' fourth single-score victory in their last five games (and the fifth game was a blowout win over UL-Monroe). Cam Newton, however, continues to look all but non-defendable.
Worry level: Steady, maybe up a tick.

GEORGIA TECH
After four straight mediocre performances that included losses to Kansas and N.C. State, Tech put together a fairly solid performance against Virginia on Saturday, though the Cavaliers didn't go away quietly. GT's defense clearly remains vulnerable; it's their triple-option offensive attack, which rolled up 477 yards rushing on UVA, that Georgia's revamped defensive front may not be able to stop.
Worry level: Up.

Looking back: As far as Georgia's past opponents, South Carolina obviously headlined the weekend by knocking off the top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide (and in more dominating fashion than they did the Dawgs in Week 2 at that), so there's something to be happy about. Arkansas and Mississippi State also won, with the Bizarro Bulldogs taking Houston down 47-24; they only need two more wins to earn a bowl invite. Georgia's blowout win over Louisiana-Lafayette is only marginally diminished by the Ragin' Cajuns' 54-28 loss to Oklahoma State, as ULL actually led the Cowboys by four at halftime. But there's not much good you can spin from our loss to Colorado, particularly now that the Buffaloes have been rolled 26-0 by Missouri. Even amongst a season already packed with blown chances and coulda-shouldas, the Colorado loss is hard to live down. That one's gonna smart even more by the end of the season.

Photographs by coka_koehler used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.