Georgia and LSU Comparisons

After doing the comparison of Arkansas and Georgia to prove a point, I decided to see how the six common opponents between Georgia and LSU matched up.

Team	LSU Result	UGA Result	LSU Off/Def	UGA Off/Def
Auburn	45-10	45-7	393/248	528/195
Ole Miss	52-3	27-13	458/195	475/183
Florida	41-11	24-20	453/213	354/226
Kentucky	35-7	19-10	348/155	317/165
Tennessee	38-7	20-12	383/239	366/269
Mississippi State	19-6	24-10	361/193	315/213

So, with the exception of Mississippi State, LSU routinely blew out the common opponents. Looking at the yardage, though, it was much more evenly matched:

LSU Offensive Yardage: 399.3
LSU Defensive Yardage: 207.2
LSU Differential: + 192.1

UGA Offensive Yardage: 392.5
UGA Defensive Yardage: 208.5
UGA Differential: +184

The difference? A little of this and a little of that. Some special teams and defensive scores. Some awesome field field position, due to opportunistic defense, as well as strong punt and kick returns. Some facing depleted offenses at the right time, specifically Florida. As for the lower scores for Georgia in those games, certainly you can look at the offensive philosophy when we have a lead.

I don't know if there is anything I can take away from this, other than I think this game, on paper, is much closer to a push than 13.5 points.

What are your thoughts?

TD