Georgia WR George Pickens gets ejected for fighting after throwing Georgia Tech player into a wall

Georgia wide receiver George Pickens won’t be able to play until the third quarter of next week’s SEC Championship Game against No. 2 LSU.

Pickens was ejected from Saturday’s game against Georgia Tech after he got into a fight with Tech defensive back Tre Swilling as Georgia went up 38-7. Pickens and Swilling got engaged as Pickens ran a route into the end zone and the ensuing scuffle resulted with punches thrown and Pickens throwing Swilling into a wall.

By NCAA rules, any player ejected for fighting in the second half of a game must serve a suspension for the first half of the ensuing game. That’s the SEC title game for the Bulldogs, so Pickens will be out for the first two quarters on Dec. 7.

Pickens didn’t play much against Georgia Tech. He sat out out the first half of the game against the Yellow Jackets for what the Bulldogs said was a “team matter.” He had a 41-yard touchdown catch in the limited minutes that he was on the field in Atlanta.

That TD catch means Pickens ends the regular season as Georgia’s leading wide receiver with 33 catches for 491 yards and six touchdowns. Lawrence Cager was the Bulldogs’ leading receiver entering the game but suffered an ankle injury in practice on Wednesday.

Georgia reportedly believes that Cager could miss “several weeks” with the injury. If he’s out next week as well that means Georgia’s anemic passing offense will be without its top two wide receivers for the first half against LSU. Those absences will put a lot of pressure on the fantastic Georgia defense to keep the high-powered LSU offense in check.

- - - - - - -

Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports

More from Yahoo Sports:

• Watch Patriots-Texans (and Gilmore-Hopkins) on Yahoo Sports app

• Aussie Open calls out Court’s bigotry as part of official announcement

• Sohi: NBA fans are mad at Kyrie because he’s telling on them

• Virginia clinches ACC Coastal, beats Va. Tech for first time in 15 years