No. 1 LSU defeats No. 4 Georgia to capture SEC title and make case for playoff's top seed

Dan Wolken | USA TODAY

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ATLANTA — College football fans had every reason to believe that Saturday’s SEC championship game might be a classic. On one hand, you had the No. 1 team in the Amway Coaches Poll in LSU trying to finish off an unbeaten season and win its first SEC title since 2011. On the other, you had an 11-1 Georgia team playing close to home, fighting for its College Football Playoff life and sporting a defense that could theoretically slow down the Tigers’ offensive machine.

But an attractive matchup on paper doesn’t always translate to a great game. And it wasn’t, as LSU had control from start to finish in a 37-10 coronation.

In the end, Georgia just didn’t have enough offense or enough healthy players to hang with a team as dynamic on both sides of the ball as LSU. The Bulldogs were able to slow LSU down a bit early in the game and still theoretically had a chance going into the second half trailing 17-3. But the Bulldogs imploded in the third quarter with a missed 36-yard field goal, followed by an 80-yard LSU touchdown drive and then Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm’s second interceptions. Just like that, it was a blowout.

Here are three observations from the SEC championship game:

1) LSU made this easy for the College Football Playoff selection committee

There won’t be any controversy in terms of the four teams selected for the College Football Playoff when the semifinal pairings are announced. Georgia needed to win the SEC championship game to secure its spot, and LSU made sure the Dawgs didn’t come particularly close. Thus, Oklahoma will almost certainly end up getting in as the 12-1 Big 12 champion while a two-loss Georgia team gets knocked out, just like last year when the Bulldogs lost the SEC championship to Alabama.

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Where there will be some intrigue, however, is in the seeding. Ranked No. 2 by the committee last week behind Ohio State, LSU already had a strong hand coming into this game with wins over No. 9 Florida, No. 11 Auburn and No. 12 Alabama. Adding a commanding win over Georgia gives the Tigers a quartet of notable victories and could very well push them past the Buckeyes, depending on what happens in the Big Ten title game.

The No. 1 seed debate will be key for the committee, as the difference in semifinal opponent — Clemson or Oklahoma — seems pretty significant on paper. Though the Tigers certainly shouldn’t be afraid to play anyone at this point, oddsmakers have said they’d be a significant favorite over the Sooners in the semifinals and a much smaller favorite over Clemson.

2) Joe Burrow’s athleticism is so key to his success.

The LSU quarterback already had his so-called “Heisman moment” near the end of the Alabama game with a third-down run that pretty much sealed the deal. But a play near the end of the second quarter against Georgia revealed the truly elite athleticism that has made him almost unstoppable this year. On a first down snap from Georgia’s 44-yard line, linebacker Monty Rice comes blitzing straight through the middle and appears to have Burrow dead to rights for a big sack.

Instead, Burrow just casually spins to his left to avoid the hit, eludes a defensive lineman as he turns upfield and splits two more defenders before being stopped for a 14-yard gain. On another run earlier in the half, he simply outran safety Lewis Cine to get a first down going toward the sideline. And early in the game, Burrow caught a pass that was batted down at the line of scrimmage and sprinted 16 yards to his left as the defense got caught flat-footed.

And then, with about four minutes left in the third quarter, Burrow added an even more impressive highlight to his already long reel, shimmying away from defensive end Travon Walker on a drop back and beating nose tackle Jordan Davis to the edge before firing downfield on the run to Justin Jefferson, who broke a tackle of his own and reversed field for a 71-yard gain, the fourth-longest pass play in SEC title game history.

Burrow isn’t just fast, he’s balanced and elusive. And when you add that willingness to run to all his other attributes, it makes it pretty difficult to sit back and try to play coverage as Georgia attempted for much of this game.

The Bulldogs came out often in packages with three defensive linemen, one linebacker and seven defensive backs. It didn’t really matter, as Burrow still found lots of receivers in 1-on-1 matchups and finished the game 28-for-38 for 349 yards and four touchdowns. He also set a new SEC single-season record for touchdown passes with 48.

Though there wasn’t much question about Burrow being a significant front-runner for the Heisman Trophy next week, he put a hammer lock on it with his performance against Georgia.

3) Georgia tried to challenge LSU deep and couldn’t execute.

The Bulldogs’ plan to test LSU was evident early. On the game’s opening series, Fromm had three opportunities to throw deep. His first throw, down the middle to Tyler Simmons, was dropped. Then, he had Matt Landers in 1-on-1 coverage deep down the but good coverage by Derek Stingley forced him too far to the left sideline to make a catch. Then, a throw to Demetris Robertson that would have been a big gain was simply too low for him to make a play.

Though Georgia had a good plan to hit a big play early on LSU, the execution just wasn’t there. And perhaps that’s not too surprising as Fromm (20-for-42 for 225 yards) has struggled throwing the ball in the second half of the season. Moreover, leading receiver Lawrence Cager couldn’t play Saturday, George Pickens wasn’t eligible until the second half due to a suspension and Georgia suffered in-game injuries to Kearis Jackson and Dominick Blaylock, leaving the playmaking corps pretty thin.

Georgia finished with just 286 yards of offense and only rushed for 61, using running back D’Andre Swift sparingly due to a shoulder injury he suffered last week.