Tell your statistics to shut up.

As I mentioned previously, Georgia was able to fatten many of its stats against an overmatched Tennessee Tech squad this past weekend.  Despite that, here are a couple of disconcerting numbers for your perusal this morning.

Georgia is currently third in the SEC in red zone offense, as the Dawgs have scored on every opportunity save one (a Blair Walsh missed field goal, believe it or not).  But that ranking is a little deceiving when you look at the breakdown.

RED ZONE OFF. G Scores-Chances
1. Arkansas 9 33-34
2. Ole Miss 9 26-27
3. Georgia 9 20-21
4. Auburn 10 31-33
5. Tennessee 9 35-40
6. Alabama 9 34-39
7. LSU 9 26-31
8. Kentucky 9 27-34
9. Miss. St. 9 26-33
10. Florida 9 33-42
11. S. Carolina 10 28-36
12. Vanderbilt 10 22-31

Georgia’s had only twenty-one chances inside its opponents’ twenty yard line this season.  That’s an astonishingly low number – even Vandy’s been in the red zone ten more times (albeit with one more game under its belt).

And, then, there’s turnover margin.  When you’re 119th nationally, it stands to reason that you’re most likely last in the SEC as well.  But it’s striking how much worse Georgia is than any other conference member.  At minus 16, there’s no other team within shouting distance – only four SEC teams have TO margins in the red and the next worst team, Ole Miss, is at minus seven.  Even more astounding is the takeaway number.  Georgia has six takeaways in nine games.  The next lowest number in that category belongs to South Carolina, which has thirteen.  There are four SEC teams which have more than tripled Georgia’s total.