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Georgia Opposition Research, Week 4: The View From The Bottom

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Now that every game has become must-win for the Dawgs, will they actually win any of them?

Any season in which one loses to Mississippi State is pretty much immediately on life support. Every win has become precious for the Dawgs; let's see how likely they are to come up with any.

COLORADO
The Buffs didn't play at all last week, but at this point the extra rest they got alone is enough to ratchet up the anxiety just a tad.
Worry level: Up, slightly.

TENNESSEE
Not only could the Vols not stop UAB to save their lives in the second half of last week's game, their offense barely moved the ball at all against a defense that, quite frankly, has been a complete turnstile for several years now. Not that Georgia has any reason to get thrilled about this until they can muster more than a yard and a half on any given rushing play, but with the Vols likely to come home from this weekend's trip to Baton Rouge a little worse for wear, it's reason for hope, at least.
Worry level: Down.

VANDERBILT
Also had a bye this past weekend. Even if they hadn't, if you're counting them as an easy win at this point, you need to have your head examined.
Worry level: Steady.

KENTUCKY
After blasting through a trio of scrub opponents by a total score of 133-54, the Wildcats were rather rudely brought back to earth in a 48-14 drubbing at the hands of the Florida Gators. That does prove that UK's high-potency offense can be stopped, even if nobody's quite sure how Georgia is going to stop it.
Worry level: Down, but only a little.

FLORIDA
The flip side of that coin, of course, is that while the Kentucky offense finally displayed some weaknesses this week, the Gators finally displayed some of the killer instinct we'd been waiting for them to whip out all season. Their newest doomsday weapon: freshman omniback Trey Burton, who had five rushes for 40 yards against UK . . .  and five catches for 37 yards . . . and also threw a 42-yard pass . . . and also had all six of the Gators' offensive touchdowns, breaking Tim Tebow's Florida record. Hey, remember back at the beginning of the season when Florida was really struggling and we actually thought we might pull off the ambush in Jacksonville this year? Those were good times.
Worry level: Up even more.

IDAHO STATE
Mustered a grand total of 151 yards in a 32-7 loss to Big Sky Conference rival Northern Arizona. This one will still qualify as a gimme win no matter how bad things get.
Worry level: Nonexistent.

AUBURN
In a week when they weren't supposed to have anything left in the tank after a brutally physical overtime tilt against Clemson, AU still managed to come from behind to beat a South Carolina team that was looking like it'd finally turned the corner. What's more worrying for Georgia fans: The fact that Cam Newton looks even more unstoppable than most of the other mobile QBs who have burned the Bulldog defense in recent years, or the fact that USC's Marcus Lattimore, who pantsed the Georgia D for 182 yards earlier this month, only managed 33 against the Tigers?
Worry level: Up up up.

GEORGIA TECH
Whatever momentum GT got from beating UNC in its conference opener was surely vaporized by N.C. State quarterback Russell Wilson, who picked the rebuilt Tech defense to pieces in a 45-28 stunner. That obviously means nothing for Georgia's defense, which is still almost certain to struggle against Tech's triple option, but at least it's looking more and more like they'll be able to keep up with the Jackets on the scoreboard.
Worry level: Down, slightly.

Looking back
South Carolina and Arkansas both had the chance to soothe Dawg fans' troubled souls by beating ranked opponents (Auburn and Alabama, respectively), but both went down to come-from-ahead losses. Even Louisiana-Lafayette lost by three TDs to a Dwight Dasher-less MTSU team, making it that much less likely that we'll at least get to brag about having knocked off the Sun Belt champion by season's end.

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