BATON ROUGE ? East meets West on Saturday in Tiger Stadium as two teams looking to keep pace in their respective Southeastern Conference divisions square off in Death Valley when 11th-ranked LSU hosts ninth-ranked Georgia at 2:30 p.m. in a nationally televised game on CBS.
LSU goes into the contest coming off perhaps its best win of the season, a 24-17 road victory over South Carolina last week. The win over the Gamecocks ran LSU’s record to 5-1 overall and 3-1 in conference action. The Tigers trail unbeaten Alabama by one game in the SEC Western Division standings.
Georgia brings a 6-1 overall mark and a 3-1 league record into Saturday’s contest. The Bulldogs are coming off a 24-14 win over Vanderbilt last week. Georgia, whose only loss this year came at the hands of Alabama, is tied with Florida for the top spot in the SEC Eastern Division.
GameDay Info
LSU vs. Georgia
Saturday, Oct. 25
2:30 p.m. CDT
GameTime Temp: 75?
Rain: 0% chance
Humidity: 34%
Wind: NW 6 mph
Forecast
Sunrise: 7:14 a.m.
Kickoff: 2:35 p.m.
Sunset: 6:23 p.m.
Times of Interest
8 a.m.
LSU Ticket Office opens
11:30 a.m.
Club level and Suites open at Tiger Stadium
11:45 a.m.
LSU Student gates open at Tiger Stadium
Noon
All remaining gates open at Tiger Stadium
12:20 p.m.
LSU walks down “Victory Hill”
12:30 p.m.
LSU Gameday presented by CST on the air | Watch Live Pregame Video
12:35 p.m.
Mike the Tiger comes down the hill
12:40 p.m
LSU band marches down the hill
2:21 p.m.
Golden Band from Tigerland takes the field for pregame performance
2:25 p.m.
Alma Mater and National Anthem
2:31 p.m.
LSU takes the field
2:31:45 p.m.
Georgia takes the field
2:35 p.m.
Kickoff: LSU vs. Georgia
Pre-Game Presentations
TAF President Cup Winners recognition
Team LSU Corporate Sponsors recognition
End of First Quarter
Trent Johnson and 2008-09 LSU men’s basketball team recognized
Halftime
LSU Golden Band from Tigerland performs
LSU’s National Championship and Runner-Up Track and Field Presentation
Guest Captains
A.J. Duhe
Chad Lavalais
Beau Harris
“This is a very significant game in this conference,” LSU coach Les Miles said this week. “It certainly has conference and national implication. It will have a national television audience and 92,500 Tiger fans will soak it in and there will be great effort and great play.”
Saturday’s game will mark the first time the two teams have met in the regular season since a 45-16 Georgia win in Athens in 2004. A year earlier, the Tigers beat the Bulldogs twice, including a 34-14 victory in the SEC title game in Atlanta.
Georgia’s last trip to Tiger Stadium came in 2003 when the Tigers upset the Bulldogs, 17-10, in a game that set the table for LSU’s run to the national title that year.
This time around the circumstances are somewhat similar as in that 2003 meeting as both teams are looking to remain in the thick of things in the SEC race, while also trying to keep pace in the national picture. A win by either team on Saturday afternoon is likely to vault that squad up in both the national rankings as well as the BCS Standings.
If the Tigers are to have success against Georgia, they will have to find a way to slow down the league’s top offense, which is led by quarterback Matthew Stafford and running back Knowshon Moreno. Stafford, who is 24-5 as a starter, is first in the SEC in passing with 242 yards per game. He’s thrown 10 touchdowns and just five interceptions this year in leading a Georgia offense that leads the SEC in total yards (429.6) and one that is scoring 31.7 points per game.
Moreno, an early season Heisman Trophy possibility, got back on track last week against Vanderbilt with 172 yards and one score against Vanderbilt. Moreno ranks second in the SEC with 108 yards rushing per game and his 11 TDs lead the league.
The Tigers will counter the Georgia offense with a defense that seemed to have finally found itself last week in the 24-17 win over South Carolina. The Tigers, with an aggressive attack, limited South Carolina to just 42 yards in the second half last week as the Tigers racked up six sacks and forced three turnovers in the victory.
LSU defensive end Tyson Jackson looks to have regained the form that earned him preseason All-America honors as he’s recorded four sacks in the Tigers’ last two games, running his season total to 4.5. The Tiger defense is also expected to get a boost with the return of Ricky Jean-Francois to the field. Jean-Francois has been out of action since the second half of the Mississippi State game with a groin injury.
In the secondary, LSU safety Harry Coleman leads the Tigers with 33 tackles, while safety Curtis Taylor is coming off perhaps his best game in an LSU uniform with seven tackles, one sack and an interception in the win over South Carolina.
When the Tigers have the ball, they will face a stingy Bulldog defense, one that is allowing a league-best 61.0 yards per game and just 269.7 total yards per game.
LSU will counter the Georgia defense with a running game that features the SEC’s fourth-leading rusher in Charles Scott, who brings a 105.2 average into the contest. The Tiger offense got some much needed production out of Keiland Williams last week against South Carolina as he rushed for a team-best and season-high 72 yards in the win over the Gamecocks.
The Tigers are also expected to continue with their two quarterback rotation with starter Jarrett Lee and backup Andrew Hatch. Lee has thrown for 1,041 yards and eight touchdowns, while Hatch has used his feet to rush for 134 yards and a pair of scores. Hatch has also tossed two TD passes, including one last week to tight end Richard Dickson, a score that tied the contest at 17-17 late in the third quarter.
LSU’s top receiving hands are junior Brandon LaFell, who ranks first in the league with 5.5 catches per game, and Demetrius Byrd, who has 19 receptions for 291 yards and three scores. In six games, LaFell has hauled in 33 passes for 462 yards and three scores.
Special teams could also have a factor in the game and both teams sport game-breakers in the return game. LSU return specialist Trindon Holliday is averaging 23.0 yards on eight punt returns and another 21.3 yards on 11 kickoff returns.
Georgia’s top return man is that of Ramarcus Brown, who ranks fifth in the league in kickoff returns with a 24.9 average.
LSU placekicker Colt David goes into the game needing just three points to become the all-time leading scorer in school history. A first team All-SEC pick a year ago, David has 316 career points, just two behind Kevin Faulk‘s 318 points. David has kicked 45 field goals in his career, 12 of which have come from at least 40 yards out.
After Saturday, the Tigers will take a break from SEC action, hosting Tulane at 7 p.m. in Tiger Stadium on Nov. 1.