Happy game week! I'm trying to be excited about the Liberty Bowl, since I know it'll be my only taste of real Georgia football (the G-Day game doesn't count) until Labor Day weeked 2017.
I guess I better enjoy it, because I'll be craving it whenever the clock hits 0:00 in Memphis.
But, we aren't there yet.
Let's talk about stats and stuff.
The last time...
1) These teams met:
The Dawgs and Frawgs have met three times throughout history, with Georgia winning all three match-ups — most recently in 1988, a 38-10 thrashing in Athens.
Here's another stat for ya: that game is (for now) the only meeting between the two where the Bulldogs didn't have a future Heisman Trophy winner on the sideline.
In 1942, Frank Sinkwich helped lead Georgia to a 40-26 win over TCU in the Orange Bowl, and in 1980 some guy named Herschel Walker led the Bulldogs to a 34-3 victory in Athens.
Maybe we'll get lucky and one of the current Georgia players blossoms into a Heisman contender.
(I can dream.)
2) Georgia failed to score 40 points in a any game for an entire season:
This would mark the first time since Jim Donnan's final season in Athens.
In 2000, the Bulldogs went 7-4 in the regular season, failing to break the 40-point barrier in all 11 games.
Their highest outputs of the season were 38 (Arkansas) and 37 (New Mexico State and Virginia).
So far, the 2016 version of Georgia hasn't scored more than 35 points (UL Lafayette). And it's worth noting that TCU has surrendered 40 points three times this year.
3) TCU lost a bowl game:
The Horned Frogs haven't lost a bowl game since 2012, a 17-16 defeat at the hands of Michigan State in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl.
Since then, they've only played in two bowl games.
One was the 42-3 beatdown of Ole Miss in the Chick-fil-a Bowl in 2014, the other was the insane comeback last year against Oregon, a 47-41 triple-OT thriller in the Alamo Bowl.
4) Georgia lost to Georgia Tech AND lost a bowl game in the same year:
This hasn't happened since the very first year of the Ray Goff era.
In 1989, Goff's Bulldogs lost to the Yellow Jackets 33-22, then fell to Syracuse 19-18 in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta.
Since then, Tech has only beaten Georgia seven times in 27 games, and in those years the Bulldogs never lost a bowl game.
(It should be noted that in 1990, Georgia lost to the Jackets but did not make a bowl game. That's the only time the Dogs lost to Tech and failed to reach a bowl game over that stretch.)
5) TCU lost to two SEC teams in the same year:
Georgia is the second SEC team the Horned Frogs will play this year, nearly four months after a 41-38, double-OT loss to Arkansas on September 10.
It'll be the first time since 1980 that TCU played two SEC teams, in, incidentally, a year it played the Bulldogs.
In '80, the Frogs opened the season with a 10-7 road loss to Auburn, then the aforementioned 34-3 loss to Georgia in Athens.
It's also worth noting that TCU played two teams that season as part of their Southwestern Conference schedule that would wind up joining the SEC down the road.
The Horned Fogs lost to Arkansas 44-7 and to Texas A&M 13-10.
6) Georgia played a team from Texas:
Here's a game a lot of y'all might've forgotten about, and it's a game where a Bulldog record was set.
In 2013, Georgia knocked off North Texas 45-21 on a soggy afternoon in Athens, a game that included the longest offensive play in Bulldog history.
In his 100th career touchdown pass, QB Aaron Murray found WR Reggie Davis on a 98-yard bomb to extend Georgia's lead to 14-0.
It was good to enjoy one good, final week that season before the Neyland turf destroyed our offense.
7) TCU played in the Liberty Bowl:
A bit of contrast here: This is only the second appearance for the Horned Frogs in the Liberty Bowl.
It's Georgia's fourth.
In TCU's lone appearance, 2002, it knocked off Colorado State 17-3.
8) Georgia beat an SEC transfer quarterback:
Perhaps lost in all the story lines is that Kenny Hill, winner of the September Heisman in 2014 before getting benched and eventually transferring from Texas A&M, is the starter for the Horned Frogs.
Should the Dogs win, it would be their first win over an SEC transfer since ... earlier this season.
On the Saturday before Thanksgiving, UL Lafayette, led by LSU transfer Anthony Jennings at QB, came to Athens. Georgia won 35-21 in a not-as-close-as-it-looked tilt.
9) TCU lost to an SEC team in a bowl game:
Despite a relatively strong football history — not a "blue blood," but certainly not a doormat — the Horned Frogs have only played six bowl games against SEC teams.
And this year marks only the second since 1955, which was, incidentally, the last bowl loss to the SEC, a 14-13 loss to Ole Miss.
59 years later, the Frogs avenged that loss with a 42-3 thrashing in the Peach Bowl.
In case you're wondering, TCU is 2-4 against the SEC all-time in bowl games, with my favorite game being its epic 3-2 win over LSU in the 1936 Sugar Bowl.
10) Georgia beat six bowl teams in a single season:
One sign of improvement in 2016 was the slight uptick in the quality of opponents that the Bulldogs beat. (Okay, "slight" might be overstating it, but work with me here.)
The Dogs already own wins over bowl teams North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Auburn and UL Lafayette, and have a chance to add another with TCU. (Duh.)
Should that happen, it would be the first time since 2014. Georgia knocked off six bowl teams that season, too — five in the regular season: Clemson, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas and Auburn, and one in the bowl game: Louisville.
In 2015, the Dogs only knocked off three bowl teams: Georgia Southern, Auburn and Penn State.
***
Opening lines for this game liked TCU as a slight favorite, but that number has moved down to a pick 'em.
My guess is that this game hinges on, as usual, the lines of scrimmage.
In 2016, Georgia wins (or at least gives itself a chance) if it can run the ball. On the other side of the ball, the defense plays well when the front seven gets a push.
Can Nick Chubb, Sony Michel and Brian Herrien find any room to run? Can Lorenzo Carter and Davin Bellamy pressure Hill?
If either of those answers is "yes" (preferably both) then the Dogs have a chance.
Shot in the dark: Georgia 30, TCU 28. Rodrigo Blankenship boots the game winner as time expires.
