The Georgia Bulldogs have been resting up this weekend while most of the rest of the conference got back out there and was battered once again. Though of course everyone will have a bye week, it feels like it came at the perfect time for the Dawgs.

Seven straight games in the SEC including an emotional, physical victory over Alabama, perhaps it should not have come as a surprise that Georgia came out a little bit flat against the Auburn Tigers. Nobody wants to lose, especially not to a hated rival you have not lost to in almost a decade, but in a 12-team playoff era, this could wind up being a positive thing.

The Dawgs got the chance to re-focus and heal up this weekend ahead of the stretch run, and in a year where everyone seems to be cannibalizing each other in this conference, the road to Atlanta still runs through Athens.

In this new age of college football, the days of flawless super teams who stack talent and have no holes are gone. That makes it more difficult for a team like the Bulldogs to win a national title, but they are still as equipped as anyone in this conference to make a run and stake their claim of third straight SEC title in Atlanta.

Sitting at 4-1 in conference play, there's a legitimately realistic possibility that the Dawgs could win out from here and be the only one loss team in the conference by the time the regular season comes to an end.

There are of course legitimate challengers and Georgia has some difficult games left such as on the road against Ole Miss and South Carolina not to mention a date with the Florida Gators this coming week, but in a year like this which has been so chaotic, it would be foolish to trust anyone but the Dawgs.

Every team has flaws, but not every team has Kirby Smart. It's going to continue to be a war every week in this league, however now that Georgia has had the chance to rest and recover following their loss, it would not be a surprise to many if they did not lose again the rest of the regular season.

It all starts this week, but if someone is going to knock this team off its SEC pedestal, it's gonna take more than one game to do it.