Auburn football takes the road for the first time this season against the fourth-ranked Georgia Bulldogs. Georgia, unsurprisingly, is around a touchdown favorite at home. Kickoff time is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
This is the first top-10 matchup of the young 2020 season. The winner will certainly garner conversation as a College Football Playoff contender and the main challenger to Alabama in the SEC. Below is an analysis between these old rivals.
Auburn Offense vs. Georgia Defense
Georgia’s defense looked nasty last week. Now, it was playing Arkansas, a team many people thought might go winless this season. Nevertheless, the Bulldogs gave up 280 total yards of offense. This includes 77 yards on the ground. They also forced three turnovers.
Let us not act like Auburn’s offense was all-world last weekend. Sure, it converted on opportunities given by the defense and put together a few nice drives. Overall, the offense was inconsistent moving the ball. Auburn had a total of 324 yards against a decent Kentucky defense. Bo Nix averaged 8.6 yards per pass, which was a bright spot.
The Tigers struggled to run the ball and is unlikely to figure it out against a stout rush defense in Georgia. The matchup to watch here is the line of scrimmage. The Bulldog defense was not playing in the Arkansas backfield as much as expected and had just four tackles for loss. It’s safe to assume Georgia’s defensive front will come to play on Saturday night.
Slight Advantage: Georgia
Georgia Offense vs. Auburn Defense
Georgia’s offense looked sluggish against Arkansas. It averaged just 5.7 yards per pass and 2.9 yards per rush. The Bulldogs turned the ball over twice last weekend and had 387 yards of total offense. It was the first game of the year and everyone was noticeably rusty, but Georgia looked especially bad on offense.
Auburn’s defense was all over the field against Kentucky. It gave up some yards, 384 to be exact. The Tigers surrendered 6.3 yards per pass and 3.6 yards per rush. Most of Kentucky’s rushing yards came on a long touchdown, but Auburn adjusted after that. The Tigers forced three turnovers.
The thing to watch here is Georgia quarterbacks vs. Auburn’s pass rush and secondary, especially on third down. Auburn allowed 12 third down conversions on 20 attempts against Kentucky last week. Defensive coordinator Kevin Steele will patch that up this weekend. With the uncertainty surrounding the Georgia quarterback situation, Auburn has an edge here.
Advantage: Auburn
Auburn looked like the cleaner football team last weekend against a better opponent. It has the advantage at quarterback. Do not be fooled because Georgia head coach Kirby Smart will have the Bulldogs ready. This will be a low-scoring game with both defenses looking tough. Teams improve so much from game one to game two. With that in mind, this game is incredibly hard to predict. I will anyway.