The Dawgs come back to the friendly confines between the hedges at Sanford Stadium to host the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry with the Auburn Tigers. Georgia has ascended to the #1 ranking after beating Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Auburn sits at 3-2 after a loss two weeks ago on the banks of the Tennessee River to the Volunteers. Alex Golesh gets his first introduction to this SEC rivalry, and Georgia looks to extend its recent dominance in the series. After a tough game on Saturday night and a bye week before the Cocktail Party, this game can potentially be a trap game if the Dawgs sleepwalk Saturday afternoon. Let’s get to the first look.
Series record / last meeting
Georgia leads the series 66-56-8 as a result of a 9-game streak in the series. In the last meeting, the Dawgs win 20-10 with a late Superman like TD by Gunner Stockton providing the final margin. The game’s turning point was a controversial fumble inside the Georgia 1 as the Tigers were going in for a 17-point lead on the Plains. Georgia would go on to kick a late 1st half field goal and then dominate the 2nd half of the game on both sides of the ball.
Gambling degenerate facts
According to DraftKings, after opening as a 16.5 point favorite, Georgia has become a 20.5 favorite with a 49.5 point total. Georgia now sits as a -1600 favorite on the money line.
Interesting statistic: 7 (Auburn’s interceptions thrown)
Byrum Brown has struggled thus far adjusting to the SEC speed of the game throwing 7 picks in 5 games including 2 in their last game at Tennessee. If the Dawgs’ defense can get some heat on Brown, I expect he is going to throw at least 1 on Saturday afternoon. He has not faced the quality of a secondary he will see Saturday in Athens.
Early outlook
Will the Dawgs come out with a focus on destroying anything in Auburn orange? If so, I see practically no path to victory for Auburn. If Georgia falls into the trap they did last year in Jordan-Hare, there is likely to be a game into the 2nd half. This Georgia team appears to be different. They appear to be focused on getting out to fast starts and forcing teams to take chances to keep up. My opinion is that this trend of fast starts continues on Saturday afternoon. Dawgs take care of business and win a game by eventually wearing out the Auburn lines of scrimmage. 20.5 seems like a big number especially with D.J. Durkin game planning the Auburn defense, but this is the same team that gave up 44 to Florida at home before the wheels started falling off the Handbag bus.
What’s your thought right now for Saturday?
Given the length of the series, what is your favorite win the Dawgs have had over the Greater Opelika Cow College? Mine has to be 1992 when we won the game with the ball on the Georgia 1 as the clock ran out. My wife & I got back from our honeymoon on a red-eye that morning and met friends in Auburn that night after they left a message on our answering machine that they had 2 more tickets.
Let us know in the comments below.
I was there in ‘86 as well.
As a huge underdog Georgia boat raced them.
Cruised over to Birmingham with Kirby’s bag for the officials (best NIL deal, ever) and stuck my head in (don’t be lewd) the SEC Writers room. They said just wait for the calls their giving us this week!!! They all liked me driving in my truck.
p.s. the uniform team installed bricks in the crown of our DB helmets, take the over 2.5 for receivers knocked out!
Favorite win – 07 Blackout as a student. Being on campus all week hearing the rumblings of possible black jerseys, just to see us come out and take the coin toss in red tops was disappointing. But, when they came out of that East Endzone tunnel in black is was pure pandemonium.
2nd – 2016 win against highly ranked Auburn. My brother and I got kicked out of Sanford for smoking in the breezeway during halftime. We were walking across the bridge when Mo Smith took the pick back to the house towards the bridge endzone! Found a tailgate in Myers Quad that had a tv and smoked Marlboros all night long.
Since we won’t host them next year, I’d love a quiet, no warning black jersey anniversary. Just show up and hey it the black jerseys. I think I’ll wear black.
2006 at least deserves an honorable mention, when Tra Battle picked off Brandon Cox 3x and a young Matthew Stafford led UGA to a huge upset over the highly-ranked Tigers on the Plains.
I might have had a few upside down tequila shots from a dentist chair in 1986 @ Auburn pregame. I might have stormed the field with a few friends after Wayne Johnson led us to an upset in 1986. I might have patted Tim Brando on the ass as he interviewed Vince post game. I might have pulled up a blade or two of JH stadium turf while getting hosed. I did have a kick ass good time at the Kappa Sig house afterwards into the wee hours of the morning!!!
2002 was cathartic. Finally put us in position to end the SEC title drought and put the disappointment of the 90s in the rearview. That was a damn good team.
First question – what Dawg fan has a fall wedding? 😉
I was at the game with Sugar falling out of the sky. Great atmosphere and victory. I’d say my favorite all time was Michael Johnson in 2002.
Hum, favorite win over East Alabama Safety School. So many to choose from. So, I was in Auburn in 1996 for the first ever SEC overtime game. That was particularly satisfying. I was also at the Blackout in 2007. That was great. Little did I realize that Mark Richt was crankng or the UGA domination in the series. I am going to go with the 2017 SEC Championship Game. Getting revenge on Gus “Beat the dog crap out of them” Malzahn’s Tigers was just so sweet.
How about the 2017 SEC Championship game?