Before the season began, there was one question both LSU and Georgia faced. Could quarterbacks JaMarcus Russell and DJ Shockley lead their respective teams effectively?
    The duo entered the season as their team’s full-time starter for the first time in their careers.
    Russell had started four games, which LSU won, during the 2004-2005 season for the Tigers as a redshirt freshman but shared time with then-senior Marcus Randall throughout the season.
    After redshirting in 2001, Shockley played sparingly the next three seasons as David Greene’s backup.
    With Green and Randall gone, Shockley and Russell are No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in passing efficiency in the Southeastern Conference and have combined for 19 wins this season with only two losses.
    Both quarterbacks said watching the game from the sidelines was a learning experience.
    ”Sitting behind [Greene], I learned how to mature and how to be a great quarterback and from how he composed himself of the field,” Shockley said at a news conference.
Shockley has connected on 56 percent of his passes for 2,199 yards and 19 touchdowns this season for Georgia. He missed one game with a knee injury.
Shockley has also been a threat on the ground, where he has rushed for 241 yards and three touchdowns. Russell has rushed for minus two yards this season with a touchdown.
    ”[Shockley’s] got a rocket for an arm,” LSU coach Les Miles said. “He’s got the ability to throw it long and accurately. He’s got the ability to avoid the rush, run the ball and pick up some scramble yards. We need to make sure that we have containment, understand our rushing lanes and yet still pressure him.”
    Russell started all 11 of LSU’s games and has completed 61 percent of his passes for 2,315 yards and 15 touchdowns.
    ”JaMarcus Russell is a quarterback who can get in the pocket and pick you apart,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said in a news release. “He has arm strength and touch. He also can bide his time behind the line and find open receivers because he’s a threat to cross the line. He can also move forward and get yards. He’s a heck of a player, a guy to be reckoned with.”
    Russell said he feels he has improved this season because he does not have to worry about getting benched after a mistake, as he did last season.
    ”Last year by going in and out the game, you never could really just get things going,” Russell said. “Once you got things going, any little mistake it was time to come out.”
    When it comes to turnovers, Shockley holds an advantage over Russell. Shockley has thrown five interceptions this season to Russell’s eight. Shockley has lost only one fumble, while Russell has lost four. Russell has not fumbled the ball in the Tigers’ last six games.
    After getting sacked 14 times in LSU’s first five games, Russell has been sacked only four times in the last six games. Shockley has been sacked 17 times this season with seven in the Georgia’s last three games.
    LSU senior defensive tackle Kyle Williams said the Tigers need to apply pressure in the backfield and prevent Shockley from leaving the pocket.
   ”The best thing that we can do is to keep him in the pocket and pressure him, because if he breaks loose that enables him to either run or throw the ball downfield,” Williams said. “We want keep that from happening.”