When the Orange Bowl gets underway tonight in Miami at 7:30, an unparalleled matchup within the matchup will take place when Michigan’s offensive line clashes with Georgia’s defensive line.
Winner of the 2021 Joe Moore Award, the Michigan front allowed the fewest sacks for a team that doesn’t run the triple option and the fewest tackles for loss in the country while also clearing the way for the running back tandem of Hassan Haskins and Blake Corum to rack up nearly 2,000 yards.
While Michigan will likely attempt to keep the ball in the hands of their talented running backs, that’ll be easier said than done. It’ll be a strength-on-strength matchup as UGA’s defense, led by the front seven, is holding teams to just over 80 yards per game on the ground—2nd in the nation. As a whole this season, the red and black is allowing just 9.5 points per game.
So which unit holds the upper hand tonight at Hard Rock Stadium?
“I still have to go with UGA’s front seven,” UGASports.com publisher Radi Nabulsi said praising the season-long performance of guys like Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Nakobe Dean and Nolan Smith.
Nabusli said the margin is slim and that UGA’s unit will also have an added level of motivation following a subpar performance in the SEC Championship Game which he attributed to a “scheme issue.’
“Those guys are going to be a little ticked off because all they’ve heard about for a month is ‘you got no sacks on Bryce Young and he threw for 17,000 yards on you guys’…I think this defensive front is going to have a chip on its shoulder,” he said.
Nabulsi is predicting a 21-17 Georgia victory which would send the Dawgs to the National Championship Game to face the winner of the Alabama/Cincinnati matchup.
