Talking Points: Georgia travels to Auburn

It’s almost time for the 128th playing of The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry. No. 1 Georgia will take on Auburn at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday and it’ll go down inside Jordan-Hare Stadium. The Bulldogs have won six in a row and that includes two in a row on The Plains. The Tigers are in their first season under new head coach Hugh Freeze. UGA is favored by two scores and, on paper, this is a tough matchup for the home team. DawgsHQ has looked at this one from numerous angles and we’re ready to highlight some of the Talking Points, below.

Georgia won’t do what Texas A&M did…

Auburn had just 114 total yards at the start of the fourth quarter against Texas A&M. It tallied 86 yards in that final period to reach 200 total yards on the day. The Aggies did a tremendous job limiting the Tiger offense from a yardage standpoint because of 15 tackles for loss. Yes, you read that correctly.

Georgia’s not going to do that. It’s not that the Bulldogs aren’t talented enough to overwhelm Auburn’s front like that. It’s that Kirby Smart and company aren’t built that way. UGA’s front is going to strike blockers, win both sides of the block, and build a wall at the line of scrimmage to limit the run game.

With that said, the Bulldogs should get their fair share of tackles in the backfield. It won’t be 15 but it’s very possible that Glenn Schumann limit Auburn in a major way. The Tigers had just 258 total yards in last year’s 42-10 loss to UGA and 75 of that game after the Bulldogs grabbed a 35-3 lead in the fourth quarter.

For such a time as this?

Georgia added a pair of transfer wideouts this offseason and both came from the SEC ranks. Rara Thomas joined UGA’s team from Mississippi State and Dominick Lovett made his way over from Missouri. Both guys played the Tigers last year and each had their way.

Lovett caught five passes for 102 yards including gains of 39 and 40 yards. Thomas hauled in six passes for 86 yards and two touchdowns. Those two wideouts are among Georgia’s top four pass catchers in 2023 thus far and they’re trending up.

Lovett has caught 10 passes in the past two games and is coming off a three-catch, 59-yard showing against UAB. Thomas only caught two passes for 11 yards against the Blazers but he’s averaging over 20 yards per grab this season. Georgia would love to get explosive plays from these two against its oldest rival.

Georgia vs. Auburn in the run game

The ground game will determine whether this one is a blowout or not. If you do a little stat-sheet scouting, you’d think that Auburn is running the ball really well. It’s No. 2 in the SEC in rush yards per game and it is running the ball better than UGA when you look at yards per carry. But then you look at the numbers against the two Power 5 opponents, Cal and Texas A&M.

Even with Robbie Ashford and Peyton Thorne‘s scrambling ability, the Tigers were only able to muster around 3.5 yards per carry against those teams. Georgia is really good against the run and much better than the numbers indicate with over 41% of the rushing yards allowed coming in the fourth quarter. Why is that significant? Well three of Georgia’s four games have been blowouts in the fourth quarter and the other was a two-score lead against South Carolina where the Gamecocks picked up quite a few yards on quarterback scrambles against prevent(ish) defense.

On the flip side, Auburn is one of just three teams in the SEC allowing over 4 yards per carry on the ground. It ranks No. 12 in the league. Texas A&M used chunk plays to give the Tigers trouble but AU ranks 11th in the SEC in number of runs allowed of 10 or more yards. It ranks No. 12 in runs of 20 or more yards allowed and it’s last in the SEC in runs of 30 or more yards surrendered.

The UGA ground game is trending up of late. Since Daijun Edwards returned to action the Bulldogs have had games of 190 and 188 on the ground. First and second down production has also been tremendous with the Bulldogs picking up an average of 5.54 yards per carry on first down and 4.38 yards per carry on second down.

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