South Carolina vs. Georgia: Will winner win SEC East?
By Sydney Hunte
It’s not lost on South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Steve Spurrier how important the team’s upcoming game is against the Georgia Bulldogs.
“It’s pretty much a must for the division,” Spurrier said at his weekly press conference yesterday. “If we’re have a shot to win the division it would be very helpful.”
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I’d have to agree. Even if the winner of Saturday’s contest loses one division game the rest of the way, and Saturday’s loser runs the table the rest of the way out, forcing a tie in the East, the loser would miss out due to a tiebreaker. There’s no such thing as an SEC East championship, but this might be the closest thing to it.
But it’s not impossible for a team with one division loss to end up winning the East (see Mizzou last year). It’s very difficult to win it with two or more. Only the Gamecocks (5-3 in 2010) have won the division in recent memory with two or more division losses to their ledger.
However, there might be that surprise third team in the mix. Last year, it was Mizzou. Who could it be this year? I doubt that Mizzou will repeat, simply because they’ve lost so much. Maybe Tennessee or Florida upsets the apple cart? I’m not sold yet.
I do know that Saturday’s as close to a must-win as it gets this early in the season. Otherwise, that goal of a spot in the SEC Championship might be put off for another year.