Hopefully you’ve got your holiday shopping done or can shelf it for a weekend, because football should be at the top of the agenda this weekend with the LSU Tigers squaring off against the Georgia Bulldogs for the SEC Championship on Saturday, the New Orleans Saints taking on the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday in a game with tremendous postseason implications, and, as if that weren’t enough, high school football championships kicking off tonight.
It’s been a tremendous year for Louisiana football. LSU, of course, is 12-0 and considered by many to be the best team in college football. Quarterback Joe Burrow, running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, and wide receivers Ja’marr Chase and Justin Jefferson are the first teammates in SEC history to have a 4,000-yard passer, a 1,000-yard rusher and two 1,000-yard receivers in the same season. Burrow – or Burreaux as his pregame Senior Day jersey read last Saturday – is the leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy, awarded to the best player in college football, and Chase is a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s best collegiate wide receiver.
The SEC Championship game, featuring No. 2 LSU and No. 4 Georgia – according to the College Football Playoff Rankings – will kick off at 3 p.m. on CBS.
The Bulldogs, who are playing in their third-straight SEC championship game, went 11-1 this season (7-1 SEC), with a surprising loss to South Carolina. The unblemished Tigers are making their first appearance in the conference championship since 2011, when they beat Georgia 42-10.
The Tigers are trying to ensure their unbeaten season continues, but Georgia has national championship aspirations on the line. LSU is a 7.5 point favorite to win (there’s a seemingly low 54 points offered as the over/under), but a Bulldog victory might be enough to launch them into the four-team playoff.
Georgia has a tremendous challenge ahead, and head coach Kirby Smart knows it.
“In the biggest games Clyde Edwards-Helaire has been one of the biggest players. Joe Burrow speaks for himself. I could go on and on,” Smart said ahead of the game this week. “Wideouts, tight ends, they’ve got five, really, returning starters on their offensive line. They got defensive players. They got an outstanding all around team. It’s a tremendous opportunity to measure where you are as a team when you get an opportunity to play a team like this that is firing on all cylinders.”
LSU head coach Ed Orgeron is trying to keep his team focused on the task at hand.
“We got to win,” Orgeron said. “Our goal is to beat Georgia and win the SEC, then let’s see what happens.”
If LSU wins their 16th conference title, they will be a playoff team and two games away from realizing their National Championship dreams.
Less than 24 hours after LSU and Georgia square off, the Saints and 49ers game Sunday at noon in the Superdome, will go a long way in determining the NFC playoff picture. Both teams are 10-2, but sit in vastly different postseason positions. While the Saints have already secured their division and at least one home playoff game, the 49ers have found themselves in a bit of precarious situation. Even though they are tied with four teams for the NFL’s best record, they are currently ranked second in the NFC West – behind the Seattle Seahawks – and fifth in the NFC playoff race. After being the top seed going into last week, a loss in NOLA could keep them from a divisional crown, meaning they might have to go on the road for the Wild Card round of the playoffs to the eventual winner of the NFL East, whose four teams all currently have losing records!
In the past few weeks, the top of the NFC race has gotten extremely tight. The Saints, Seahawks, and 49ers are 10-2, the Packers are 9-3, the Vikings are 8-4, and the Cowboys are 6-7. Green Bay and Minnesota are fighting for their divisional crown; so are the Seahawks and Niners. They, like the Saints, want to secure a home field advantage in the playoffs and be able to control their own destinies. The beast way to do that, as longtime Raiders owner Al Davis used to say, is to “Just win, baby.”
It’s not cliché to say that every game matters. If the Saints want to continue secure their goals for the season – a first-round playoff bye, home field advantage throughout the playoffs, a trip to the Super Bowl – there is little to no room for error.
Fortune has smiled on this team this season, but its fate is in its own hands. Win and the road to Super Bowl LIV in Miami will run through the Crescent City.
