ATHENS — Georgia football is on the verge of a pivotal home test against Texas, fighting to keep SEC championship game hopes alive while looking to enhance its College Football Playoff resume.

The teams play at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday in Athens at Sanford Stadium.

It wasn’t so long ago that the No. 5-ranked Bulldogs were having to answer questions about their legitimacy as a championship contender, as SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum pointed out this week.

“I think as we walked out of that game six or seven weeks ago against Alabama, you had to wonder, would Georgia be able to survive?” Finebaum said on the Ingles On the Beat Show on Monday night.

“And they have.”

No doubt, the ascension of quarterback Gunner Stockton into Heisman Trophy candidate and the growth within the ranks of a program that lost 17 players to the NFL (13 drafted) and 20 in the portal (six former starters) has kept the Bulldogs among the contenders.

Finebaum pointed out that he was among the vast majority of objective analysts that did not see Stockton’s strong season coming.

“I had Gunner Stockton selling insurance somewhere in Conyers, Georgia, with Mike Bobo,” Finebaum said. “But Gunner Stockton has been an absolute star. We saw that going back to Knoxville and the Tennessee game, where I felt like he came of age and he’s done it so many times.

“And Mike Bobo, for all the criticism on the Finebaum Show, has dialed up some really unique and creative plays this year.”

To Finebaum’s point, Georgia has out-performed preseason No. 1 Texas in most all categories:

Scoring Offense

Georgia 33.4 points per game

Texas 29.6 points per game

Total Offense

Georgia 436.3 yards per game

Texas 381.4 yards per game

Passing Efficiency

Georgia 150.39

Texas 146.72

Rushing Offense

Georgia 197.2

Texas 135.3

Third-down conversion pct.

Georgia 47.9 percent

Texas 40.6 percent

“I think you’d have to be (Texas mascot) Bevo to be picking Texas to win,” Finebaum said.

“Right now, I’m not, and I sincerely doubt I will be Saturday morning … I think everything favors Georgia.”