It’s that time of year, folks! College football is officially BACK! Although technically starting last Saturday weekend with the so-called “Week 0”, the real slate of primetime matchups starts this Saturday, September 3rd. And for the national champion Georgia Bulldogs, they face the Oregon Ducks in an afternoon clash at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta with kickoff scheduled for 3:30 PM ET.
But who will win this high-profile Week 1 matchup? Let’s look first at the Ducks and then the Dawgs to get a better understanding.
Oregon: 10-4 in 2021
It was a decent 10-win season for Mario Cristobal’s squad last year, capped off by a Pac-12 title game and Alamo Bowl appearance. Both, unfortunately, resulted in losses for the Ducks, and on top of that, Coach Cristobal went way southeast to become the new head coach at the U, or Miami, Florida for those unfamiliar. Oregon started 4-0 in 2021 before their first loss at Stanford in Week 5 and they would even win their next 5 games in a row after that before any other loss, the next one being the team they also faced in the Pac-12 title game, 2021 conference champion Utah. The Ducks squared off with the Utes twice in 2021, losing both times by scores of 38-7 and 38-10.
Roster Breakdown
Oregon has a new QB at the helm after 2021’s QB Anthony Brown joined the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent. It’s senior transfer Bo Nix, who Auburn fans are very well familiar with. He will spend his last eligible season under center for the Ducks after playing 3 starting years for the Alabama Tigers. Behind him is Ty Thompson, a redshirt freshman. It’s likely Nix will end up being QB1 while Thompson settles for QB2- unless something happens to Nix that makes Thompson have to fill in for him.
Nix is better against Georgia, however. He has 3 career starts against the Dawgs, where he’s totaled 72/128 on completions, 639 passing yards, and 2 touchdowns plus a pick. He also logged 34 yards on 34 carries. Safe to say this guy only sneak runs against the Dawgs’ formidable defense.
In the run game, Oregon has CJ Verdell entering his final eligible season as a 5th-year senior. In 2021, Verdell played in only 5 games, but still managed 78 carries for 406 yards and 5 touchdowns. He also had 8 catches for 74 receiving yards and 2 TDs. The other member of Oregon’s RB attack is sophomore Byron Cardwell, who played 12 games in 2021 with 61 carries for 417 yards and 3 touchdowns.
On the WR corps, the Ducks possess junior Kris Hutson, a redshirt during his freshman year in 2021. Hutson played in all 14 games in 2021, with 31 catches for 419 yards and a pair of TDs.
Georgia: 14-1, 2021 CFP National Champions
Oh, that 1 stinging loss against Alabama in the SEC title game. How fitting Georgia would roar back and dominate the Crimson Tide in a bigger title game, giving them a taste of their own medicine.
You may think Georgia isn’t a contender this year. And you’d be somewhat right, as they lost 15 players to this year’s NFL Draft, the most from any school in 1 year in history. However, Georgia clearly isn’t fazed by that fact, as ESPN’s Football Power Index gives them a 92 percent chance to win their opener this Saturday afternoon. Now Oregon could pull a big upset and make a statement early on in the 2022 season. However, given how Georgia led not just the SEC but all of college football last season in opposing points per game it’s looking pretty unlikely that’ll even happen.
Roster Breakdown
Georgia retains 5th-year senior QB Stetson “The Mad Hatter” Bennett, him being just a redshirt senior in 2021, giving him 1 last year of eligibility. Star TE Brock Bowers is also looking to continue his dominance coming off of a 2021 season that saw him play in 14 games, making 56 catches for 882 yards and 13 touchdowns. UGA also has a strong running game attack, as they so often do, living up to their name of RBU. Kenny McIntosh enters his senior year with 13 games played, 328 rush yards, and 3 touchdowns, and he takes over for the two leaders ahead of him, Zamir “Zeus” White and James Cook, both of who have since begun their NFL careers.
Ladd McConkey and Adonai Mitchell are Georgia’s primary weapons in the WR corps, with the former playing in his first full season in 2021 as a redshirt freshman after sitting out 2020 as an incoming freshman. McConkey played in all 15 games last season with 31 catches for 447 yards and 5 touchdowns. On the other hand, Mitchell, an incoming freshman in 2021, played 12 games, making 29 catches for 426 yards and 4 touchdowns.
One thing is for certain- Georgia is looking very scary on both sides of the ball in 2022. This might be a blowout similar to what Utah dealt Oregon in their pair of games.
For More Great Football Content
Follow us on Twitter at @GridironHeroics for more great content. We appreciate you taking time to read our articles. To interact more with our community and keep up to date on the latest in Football news, JOIN OUR FREE FACEBOOK GROUP by CLICKING HERE
