Georgia is in trouble.
The one player it couldn’t afford to lose is now suspended.
Todd Gurley might not be the entire offense, but he was the one player who made it work best. Without him carrying the ball 20 times a game, it’s unclear how the passing game and quarterback Hutson Mason will be affected. Nick Chubb and Sony Michel are promising young running backs, but is either really ready for the pressure of being Georgia’s leading man?
We’ll find out Saturday when No. 13 Georgia travels to No. 23 Missouri.
In the meantime, the outlook for coach Mark Richt’s Bulldogs isn't promising.
If we thought the SEC East was muddled before, just wait for what comes next.
Let the reseeding begin.
Missouri, come on down. You are already atop the East at 4-1, but your lead somehow looks wider now. With a win Saturday you could run away with the division.
Florida, it has been a bad start, but nothing's impossible at this point. Your one loss -- I repeat, one loss -- came on the road at Alabama. Nothing is off the table if you don't want it to be.
Kentucky, why not make a run? If there ever was a season to do it, this is it. You're young and you just beat South Carolina. You have momentum, so ride it as far as it will take you.
It's probably too late for South Carolina and Tennessee to make a run at Atlanta, but both can play the role of spoiler. The talent gap really isn't all that wide from first to sixth.
With Gurley's status suddenly in doubt, there is no established order. It feels like the parity of the SEC West but without the prestige.
Georgia probably wasn't a true front-runner to begin with, but Gurley was the talent that made you believe. Somehow you thought he would make it work.
Now that his status is up in the air, the offense goes from one-dimensional to mediocre. The problems on defense are exacerbated. And that is just the impact on the field, not to mention the potential emotional impact off it.
We don't know how long Gurley's suspension will last. For now, though, it's clear things have changed. The longer he is sidelined, the more Georgia's hopes for winning the division fade.
