#4 LSU ESCAPES GEORGIA WITH HARD FOUGHT WIN

LSU ran their 2009 college football record to a perfect 5-0 with a fourth quarter rally over feisty Georgia on Saturday afternoon en route to a 20-13 victory over the #18 ranked Bulldogs.  After three quarters of smash mouth defensive football, Georgia went ahead 7-6 early in the fourth quarter.  From that point on, the two teams traded touchdowns the rest of the way.  After six points were put on the board in the first three quarters, Georgia and LSU combined for 27 points in the final stanza.  Georgia dropped to 3-2 with the loss, and LSU will certainly do no worse than maintain their #4 ranking with the victory.

College football betting devotees who ignored LSU’s dreadful record against the spread over the past three years to back them as a +3’ road underdog were financially rewarded with the Bayou Bengals outright victory.  It was only LSU’s second pointspread cover of the year despite their undefeated 5-0 record, leaving their record against the money at 2-2-1.  Georgia’s ATS performance this year has been even more dismal—despite a 3-2 SU record they’re only 1-4 against the spread including a 0-3 mark at home. Despite the fourth quarter scoring outburst, the 33 points scored still went well UNDER the posted total of 50’.  Both teams have gone UNDER in three of their five 2009 college football regular season games.

Afterwards, LSU head coach Les Miles had this praise for his team:

"Our football team, if you turn your back on them, they will beat you up. We have competitive men, and they like to play. I am so proud of them."

On the game winning touchdown, LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson convinced his coaches to give the ball to their powerful running back Charles Scott rather than call a passing play.  He explained his thinking:

"I would rather give it to Charles and let him pound it in there. Charles is a big power back. I didn't want to pass it. That situation required a running play. I saw the hole, and once he hit it, I knew it was a TD."

Georgia quarterback Joe Cox took the defeat hard:

"It's tough. It's not something I'd want anybody to feel. We worked a long time for this game and talked about this game a lot. It just slipped away. It's not a good feeling."

LSU won’t have any time to celebrate this victory, as they face an even bigger challenge next weekend when #1 ranked Florida comes to town.  They’ll have a bye week the following week before hosting Auburn and Tulane on successive Saturdays.  Georgia will play their next two games on the road, at Tennessee and Vanderbilt before a bye week of their own before their annual grudge match against the University of Florida.