Georgia quarterback Hutson Mason (14) runs for a touchdown against Tennessee in their gameon Sept. 27, 2014, in Athens, Ga.For years it was Florida or Tennessee serving as the biggest obstacle between Mark Richt's Georgia Bulldogs and the Southeastern Conference East Division title.
Then South Carolina became the primary hurdle.
For the past year and a half, however, it's been the Missouri Tigers. Missouri, which hosts Georgia this week, won the SEC East last season and is the only East team so far this year that is undefeated in league action.
"They played for the SEC championship in their second year, and that's pretty impressive," Richt said Sunday. "They are in very good position right now, and this game is huge for both teams, obviously. Coach [Gary] Pinkel is a heck of a ball coach, and their staff has been together a while and know what they're doing.
"Their style of play has proved that it can work in our league."
Saturday's showdown between the No. 13 Bulldogs (4-1, 2-1 SEC) and the No. 23 Tigers (4-1, 1-0) was picked up Sunday by CBS and will have a noon kickoff. The Tigers were off Saturday, while the Bulldogs pounded Vanderbilt 44-17.
Neither Georgia nor Missouri could hold serve against each other in their first two meetings as division rivals, with the Bulldogs winning 41-20 two years ago in Columbia and the Tigers prevailing 41-26 last year in Athens. Missouri suffered an embarrassing home loss to Indiana on Sept. 20 but bounced back the following week to win 21-20 at South Carolina after trailing 20-7 in the fourth quarter.
South Carolina handed Georgia its lone league loss, 38-35, on Sept. 13.
"I don't want our players making a habit of that, because it's very difficult to do," Pinkel said last week of the rally inside a stunned Williams-Brice Stadium, "but obviously I'm proud of the team with the mental toughness and the never-give-up attitude. Those were incredibly adverse conditions. South Carolina has a great fan base, and I was proud we had the guts to battle through that."
With six of the league's 14 regular-season weekends complete, Vanderbilt (0-4) is all but out of this year's East hunt, while South Carolina (2-3) and Tennessee (0-2) are facing steep climbs. The Gamecocks dropped their season opener to Texas A&M before regrouping to defeat Georgia and Vanderbilt, but they followed up their loss to Missouri with a 45-38 loss Saturday night at Kentucky.
South Carolina led the Wildcats 38-24 in the fourth quarter.
"Obviously we're two games away from being 5-1, but we're not," Spurrier said Sunday. "We didn't finish these last two games, and both games were very identical, and that's just the way it's happening. We're probably not quite as talented as we thought we were going to be."
The Bulldogs cruised Saturday behind Todd Gurley's 25 carries for 163 yards and two touchdowns, and they introduced a wrinkle by inserting backup quarterback Brice Ramsey on their third offensive possession. Ramsey led a seven-play, 74-yard touchdown drive that was aided by four Gurley rushes for 43 yards.
When Mason returned, he found Chris Conley deep for a 44-yard touchdown on the first play.
"It did work out well, and there is always a chance we will continue to do that," Richt said. "I'm not going to sit here and say for sure what we're going to do, because I don't know for sure. It's definitely a possibility to keep doing that type of thing."
Odds and ends
The turbulent 2014 for Georgia's defensive backs continued Sunday when freshman cornerback Shaq Jones was arrested for shoplifting in Athens and was dismissed from the team. ... Gurley ranks third nationally in rushing yards per game (154.6) and second in yards per carry (8.22). ... Richt said redshirt junior receiver Justin Scott-Wesley did not play Saturday because coaches felt he wasn't game ready yet. ... Senior linebacker Amarlo Herrera on the 27-point win after last year's loss in Nashville: "This was about what is different about us. We just played better than we did last year." ... Sophomore Brendan Langley was moved back to cornerback from receiver last week following the medical disqualification of freshman corner Rico Johnson.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.