Spring Break
SEC East within Bulldogs' reach
PHILLIP KISUBIKA
Issue date: 11/16/07 Section: First & Goal
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That is to what the SEC East has come. Georgia, Florida and Tennessee, the three teams that were expected to battle it out for the division in September, are still there as the dust is beginning to settle on this wild and crazy season.
Tennessee is the only team in the East that truly controls its own destiny. If the Vols win out, they will play LSU, which has already clinched the West division, in the SEC Championship Game Dec. 1 in Atlanta.
Georgia can clinch the Eastern Division title with a win against Kentucky and a Tennessee loss to Vanderbilt this weekend. If Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky all end up at 5-3 in SEC play, the Gators would win the four-team tie-breaker since they and Kentucky have the best mark against the tied teams (2-1) and Florida defeated Kentucky earlier this season.
Even if the Bulldogs win out and don't make it to Atlanta, they have a good chance of being selected to play in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, according to ESPN.com's Mark Schlabach.
"A 10-2 Georgia team is very attractive to the Sugar Bowl," Schlabach said. "With all that's happened in New Orleans, there's probably a lot of pressure take a really good SEC team."
Schlabach said a team's fan base and marketability factor into bowl committees' decisions on who to select for each game. He also said the Gators are "pretty much a lock" to play in the CapitalOne Bowl and, assuming the Vols win out and lose to LSU in the SEC Championship, Tennessee would be headed toward the AT&T Cotton Bowl. All three bowls are played on New Year's Day.
But before the Bulldogs can look ahead, they have a daunting task in taming the powerful offense of the Kentucky Wildcats, who again could play the spoiler role on Saturday.
"This team beat us last year and they beat the number one team in the country this year. It's our last SEC game this season. It's something big for us," quarterback Matthew Stafford said. "There's a ton on the line for us, and I don't see us having any problem getting emotionally ready to play."
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