Let all the Bulldog faithful rally behind the men who now wear the red and black with two words, two simple words which express the sentiments of the entire Bulldog Nation: Auburn Sucks.
It’s time for the Cocktail Party in Atlanta at Mercedes Benz. Jonny Boy Sumrall gets his first taste of the rivalry. The Dawgs have been stewing for the last couple of weeks after an upset loss to a bitter rival. It has been 16 years since the Dawgs lost to Auburn and Florida in the same season. Let’s get to the first look.
Series record / last meeting
Georgia leads the series 58-44-2 and enjoy a 5-game streak in the series. In the last meeting, the Dawgs win 24-20 with Gunner Stockton taking a knee on the Florida 1 yard line after picking up the first down to end the game. Chauncey Bowens’s 36-yard TD with just over 3:00 minutes remaining provided the winning margin after a Gator field goal early in the 4th quarter. Florida took advantage of explosive plays, a rare shanked punt by the Thunder from Down Under and a turnover to give themselves a chance to win the game. A late potentially controversial (depending on your point of view) prevented Florida from having a chance to win the game late.
Gambling degenerate facts
According to DraftKings, Georgia is an 11.5 favorite with a 55.5 point total. Georgia is a -440 favorite on the money line.
Interesting statistic: 44.12% (Florida 3rd down conversion defense rate)
Florida’s defense has not been great on 3rd down for much of the season. In 4 of the Gators’ 7 games, they have given up conversions on 50% or more of 3rd downs on defense. The Georgia offense has had 1 game this season so far where they didn’t convert at least 50% of their 3rd downs. If those 2 trends hold true on Saturday, the Georgia offense is going to have the opportunity to score points and play keep-away with the ball.
Early outlook
I do like the Dawgs in this match-up in Atlanta where Georgia is very comfortable playing over the last 10 years. I expect this team to start fast on both sides of the ball. I also expect not to see the backbreaking mistakes we saw the last time we saw the Dawgs on the field. I probably should have withheld any look toward Saturday until seeing the availability report for tomorrow.
I can’t imagine that Kirby is going to allow this team to sleepwalk into Atlanta and give the Gators a chance to break the win streak and do it in Georgia after he was a part of the team the last time it was played in the Peach State.
Dawgs win and cover.
What’s your thought right now for Saturday?
Given this game as the World’s Largest Cocktail Party, what has been your cocktail of choice for this game? I’m more of a beer guy for this game now, but back in the day, I was definitely a bourbon and Coke back in the day.
Dawg Nation sits at home to rest this weekend as we finally get to a much needed open week before the Cocktail Party next Saturday at Mercedes Benz Stadium. After a first half of a lot of good, now is the time to look back on what has happened, who has made it happen and what needs to change for this team to get where we want to go.
Let’s start with the grades:
Offense – A–
Against the early season overmatched foes, this offense especially the first teamers looked unstoppable. As the season has wore on a couple of warning bells are going off, first, turnovers. Beyond the first loss of the season last weekend in Athens, this team has had some pretty good turnover luck over the last couple of games. We put the ball on the ground too many times and had a potential interception overturned in Tuscaloosa. We pretty much gave Oklahoma their first touchdown with a bad interception early in the 3rd quarter. Second, the running backs. I love Peanut Dwight Phillips, but he is not an every down back. Nate Frazier has not been his early season dominant self since coming back from a rib injury, and no one knows if we’ll see Chauncey Bowens again this season.
Even with all of that, we’re averaging 43 points per game and almost 470 yards of total offense per game. The turnovers from last Saturday notwithstanding, Gunner Stockton has played much of this season as a potential Heisman Trophy contender. In particular, his willingness to stay in the pocket to wait for his receiver to break open has been real growth. Except the last game, the Georgia offensive line has been dominant. The tight end still seem to come and go in this offense.
If you gave me those scoring and yardage stats before the season as where we would be at the bye week, I would tell you we have a national title contender on our hands.
Defense – A
The first team defense generally has not messed around this year. They have been more disruptive with 22 sacks through 7 games … more than they had in 14 games last season. They had 5 sacks last Saturday even though we (including myself) complained about the inability to control the QB outside the pocket and put Keelon Russell on the ground 4 times in Tuscaloosa. One warning sign for this side of the ball has been the run defense the last 2 weeks. Alabama popped a long run against us on the way to 160 yards on the ground, and, of course, the 190 yards given up on 46 attempts. We’re going to see some running QBs and some good backs over final 5 games. Tackling in the run game has to get better. The other concern is KJ Bolden … we need him on the back end healthy for the stretch run. He makes a lot of plays and erases a lot of other stuff.
Would you take giving up 16 points a game from this point of the season through Thanksgiving? I would and that would be likely enough for this team to have a chance to defend its SEC championship in December.
Special teams – C
I thought about going lower here. The blocked field goal in Athens and the miss in Tuscaloosa were not good, but overall, Peyton Woodring has been money. Drew Miller has not been the field position weapon we have become used to in the punting game. Sacovie White-Helton has had some adventures the last couple of games fielding punts. Other than Tyriq Green’s kickoff return against WKU, the return game has been just ok although I think the schools are just fine with practically eliminating kickoff returns.
We have grown accustomed to special teams creating momentum plays, and we just haven’t seen that to date.
Honors:
Most Valuable Dawg: Gunner Stockton
Other than really 5 plays, 14 has been the straw that stirs the drink. A lot of people doubted Gunner entering the season. He has answered the bell. Just respect the ball more than you did last Saturday, and we’ll be fine.
Best Nickname: Chris “Tarantula” Cole
I could have said best defensive player, but this category gets to the same thing. Cole has been everywhere through 7 games. He leads the team in tackles for loss and is 2nd in sacks and total tackles. If he’s not on a bunch of midseason All-American lists and the current favorite to win the Butkus Award, I would be surprised.
Breakout Star: Dwight Phillips
Peanut has been explosive in almost every game this season. His performance against Alabama with Bowens hurt and Frazier a game time no-go will go into Bulldog lore. We’re going to see him take one a long way before this season is over.
Best Freshman: Craig Dandridge
The young man is leading the team in yardage and average per reception while only 2 receptions behind Talyn Taylor who has probably gotten more accolades this season (without Phillips’s performance in T-town, I would have had Taylor as the breakout star). In an offense that likes to spread the catches around, those 2 are quickly becoming WR1 and WR1A. Terrence Edwards gushes over Dandridge at every opportunity.
Close runner-up … Zykie Helton. Warrior. That’s all.
Unsung Hero: Blake Stewart
Does Georgia win in Tuscaloosa without Stewart’s heads up play to beat multiple Tide coverage guys to the ball White-Helton muffed? My answer to that is probably not. DGD.
Looking Ahead
Can this team win every game currently remaining on the schedule? Absolutely. Could they lose a game in this stretch? If they play distracted and uninspired and turn the ball over as they did last Saturday, absolutely.
The games that concern me are the next 2. If we’re completely focused on destroying anything in orange and blue, we will probably beat Florida handily. If not, we’re going to be in for a fight with a team that did put up a fight in Jacksonville in their first game after losing their head coach. The following week at Oxford has me concerned. We have not played well in Oxford since Kirby has been in Athens. They will be on their 5th straight week of SEC games when we come calling. Here’s to Auburn making their game the week before a 4-quarter affair.
I expect this team to be in Atlanta in December at 11-1 and playing for a number on the wall.
Note: This was supposed to post today, for some reason it was posted at a different date. Sorry for the late drop. – JP
For all the chatter on here about Gunner, I’m glad for one thing: we don’t have the Manning wunderkind and Jared Curtis’s soft ass on campus in Athens.
Sources: Texas is expected to give an up-tick in first-team quarterback reps to redshirt freshman KJ Lacey Jr. this week in practice. Arch Manning still projects as the Texas starter. The uptick in Lacey’s reps is a signal that Texas could replace Manning if he continues to… pic.twitter.com/OPOQQy0dcE
Mind you, Archduke has another year. Maybe he’ll have a better year at Florida State.
Meanwhile, in Nashville:
This is from Theo Von’s Instagram page. That’s Curtis, far left, hanging out with Go Diego Go and some other nitwits of social media importance.
One thing I’ll say is that Pug’s reps on Saturday is proof that QBs can be developed at UGA. I question if Gunner was concussed and if Pugs was balling, why not leave him in. I think that’s a healthy debate to have, in other words, what an abundance of riches we may have.
Meanwhile, Arch is going from first round draft pick (I could’ve told you that was a mistake) to benched and Jared Curtis’s mom, who wanted him in Athens, has to be losing sleep seeing her son suck and blow at the same time as an Admiral.
NIL means a lot, but it doesn’t mean success. It can mean suckcess, though, and if I were Jared’s parents I’d be calling Kirby and offering a mea culpa ASAP.
As far as the Mannings, screw them and the mule they rode in on. Arch can be a flame out and I couldn’t be happier for it. At least Peyton enrolled his kid in a competitive school, unlike what Arch experienced in high school.
For anyone wondering why Arch Manning struggled yesterday, this was his competition in high school: pic.twitter.com/r84qCDSKRG
When I went to games (read: when I could afford it) I usually stood. I never gave a second thought about the people behind me, but this gives me pause.
Did I ever sit at a game?
There was the 1995 Georgia Florida game at Athens.
We never sat. Mind you, there was no one behind us because most people left, but I can recall us standing the entire time out of some bizzaro allegiance and my buddy running laps the one time (we had seventeen points, so it was more than once) we scored around the empty student section. It seemed appropriate.
Today at 3:30, the 2026 renewal of the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry takes place on the hallowed sod of Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium. The top-ranked Dawgs look to win this game for 10th time in a row and establish a level of unimagined in this series. A win today gives Georgia the title of Alabama state champions. For Auburn, Alex Golesh is still looking for that signature year 1 win that lets the Auburn Family know there may be brighter days ahead in Greater Opelika. The big question is whether both sides of the Tiger line of scrimmage will hold up against the best they have seen this year. Let’s get to the preview.
When Georgia has the ball
Given some of Auburn’s issues defending the run against Florida (243 yards) and Tennessee (237), I expect Mike Bobo to challenge his offensive line to bully the Auburn front with the running game to set up the passing game. No one this season has been able to get the Georgia offense off schedule consistently. I don’t think Auburn has the depth in the front 7 to do that either. Therefore, the match-up comes down to whether Auburn can force turnovers or force execution mistakes. Tomorrow would not be a good time for the Georgia offense to regress back into past years’ habit of starting slow and allowing the Auburn defense to get some confidence.
When Auburn has the ball
The Tigers’ offense comes down to whether they can generate a consistent running game against the Georgia front without needing 20+ carries by their quarterback Byrum Brown. After making Keelon Russell miserable last week, the Tarantula, Chris Cole, has a similar assignment to make plays on Brown when they are available. If the Dawgs’ defense forces Brown to stay in the pocket and play from there, I like the defense’s chances to force at least one mistake from the quarterback. Brown made comments earlier in the week that he saw things the Tigers could exploit while watching the Georgia-Alabama game. I would assume Kirby and Schu have had that playing in the defensive meetings throughout the week in preparation for today.
What will happen
I love this match-up for the Dawgs. Without sleepwalking or making mistakes, I really do believe Georgia could put a whipping on Auburn. If Georgia is able to run the ball with similar results to UF and UTK, I just don’t see Auburn stopping the offense if Gunner Stockton can play dealer’s choice. The real question is whether the Dawgs are looking ahead to the rest of the off week especially after a tough game in Tuscaloosa last Saturday.
My opinion is that the leadership of this team keeps this group focused 60 minutes, and the Dawgs win easily. I also think Auburn may get the back door cover against the young pups.
Final score: Georgia 33, Auburn 14
What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
This also serves as the Georgia game day thread, so keep it civil.
Alright…enough of the CFP expansion bruhaha. Let’s lock back in and remember that it’s Auburn hate week, and focus on what really matters tomorrow.
Lest we forget…
40 years ago vs. Auburn, senior LB Steve Boswell makes a game-clinching INT in Bulldog territory as 10.5-point underdog Georgia prevails on the Plains, 20-16.
Afterward, the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry becomes the “Game Between the Hoses” as Auburn blasts Dawg fans with water. pic.twitter.com/f8ACw0C0s6
Quick reminder that the Senator used to opine that a championship team needed to hit the +2.0 barrier to be considered elite. Net Yards Per Play is a measure of the yards per play of the offense measured against the yards per play allowed by the defense. A positive number generally means your defense is holding opponents (not the penalty type, Alabama fans) while your offense moves the ball well.
I’d say we’re doing well…good for 3rd nationally, 7th offensively and 2nd defensively.
Serious question here…how is Indiana not Top 5? With 8.07 yards per play on offense, and playing against literally no one, I would expect them to be the best at this. Notable that Iowa is 30th…and one step below? Texas. That’s not speaking wonders about Steve Sarkisian or Archduke as offensive wizards, as their 5.23 yards per play on offense is good for 93rd in the nation, while their defense is 9th at 4.33. You know that’s gotta frustrate someone who’s known for not having the best of dispositions:
Even more interesting is that, especially after all the talk about the Alabama defense leading up to the Georgia game, the Tide is 63rd in defense in this metric.
Some other interesting observations from this data:
Speaking of frustrated coordinators, Buster Faulkner has to be looking at his defensive counterpart and asking why they have the 106th ranked defensive ypp in the nation. I think Mike Bobo is looking forward to that game more than anyone knows, especially with all the talk about Buster v Bobo.
Kentucky is living on borrowed time. 9th in Net YPP for the SEC at .95, they are decent but not great in either offensive (46th in the Nation) or defensive (56th) ypp. But they are still somehow finding a way. The way? Turnover margin…at +7, they are tied for tops in the SEC with Alabama. Georgia is 2nd at +6. We’ve seen this happen before in previous years where some teams like Oklahoma were thriving in the win-loss column (really the only place it matters) while struggling in net ypp, only to implode at season’s end when the turnover machine stalled.
Just a hair above Kentucky is Ole Miss, who may, in fact, be missing Lane Kiffin or Charlie Weis, Jr., this year, as they are 36th in offensive ypp. They finished 9th in offensive ypp last year. Couple this with the 60th defensive ypp this year, and Ole Miss might be regressing.
Speaking of missing people, Clark Lea is really missing Diego. Vandy finished in 2025 with one of the higest net ypp in the SEC of close to 3, and had the 3rd best offensive ypp metrics in the nation at season’s end. This year? 102nd in offensive ypp and coming in at a -.61 in the net ypp. I wonder if Nate Bargatze can make a joke about that. Money well spent, Admiral.
For our upcoming game, the heralded offensive transfers at Auburn aren’t yielding great results, coming in at 77th in ypp on offense, but they do have a stout defense at 21st. THey are missing a key linebacker this weekend, so let’s hope we make both of these numbers plummet even further, because, you know, Auburn sucks.
It’s shouldn’t be that big of a stretch to hone in on the source of this year’s offensive success. While Gunner has improved in downfield throws and the running game is churning to the tune of an average yards per play of roughly 7.5 yards, the best work has been done in the trenches.
Just peep these rushing stats, and, mind you, our leading back has been out now for over a third of the season.
For reference, the Dawgs finished 14th in 2021, 5th in 2022, and 11th in 2023 in average rushing yards. While it’s only half-way through the season right now, being tops in the country is something to crow about.
Others are taking note…
On the passing front, Georgia has increased by 2.5 yards per attempt over 2025 and is 6th in average yards per attempt at 9.9 (Georgia was 7th in 2021 with 9.3 ypa, 5th in 2022 with 9.0, 9th in 2023 with 9.4), behind Ohio Sate, Miami, and Indiana, just to name a few, and Gunner is in the top 5 in completion percentage, QB rating, and is doing so without having to throw screen passes half the game and is in the top ten in touchdowns despite only attempting 160 passes (Hawaii has the most attempts, not surprisingly, at 275, and LSU leads the SEC in 215 passing attempts).
Bobo has to be pretty happy, but on the dad front, he’s got to be simultaneously proud and grateful to have his son anchoring the offensive line.
Drew and Chris Cole both were named to the Lombardi midseason watchlist, and deservedly so. I was considering doing a midseason awards post, but it’s been pretty obvious that the offensive line and Chris Cole are standing out head and shoulders above others (KJ Bolden and Gunner Stockton are both having stellar seasons, too), so it would’ve been a short post.
Needless to say we’re seeing maturity of the offensive line group but also, quite possibly, the Rauscher effect, and we could have another Pit Boss in Athens.
Now the worrisome part – how long do we keep him, and HOW do we keep him hanging around at Georgia to keep this essential work going?
