Matchups

Five Keys

Wear down Tigers

Georgia followed up a 189-yard rushing outing against Florida by gashing Kentucky for 331 yards last week. Contining to feed Elijah Holyfield and D’Andre Swift should pay dividends against an Auburn team that Texas A&M put up 201 rushing yards on last week. The Bulldogs top the SEC in rushing at 233.8 per game.

Make stops on third down

Auburn is struggling on third down, converting just 36.3 percent of the time, ahead of only Vanderbilt and Arkansas in the SEC. Georgia is sixth in the SEC in third down defense at 33.1 percent, but Kentucky was able to convert on 7 of 13 tries.

Keep pressure coming

Georgia still ranks last in the SEC in sacks with 14, but has eight sacks in its last three games including four last week at Kentucky. D’Andre Walker still leads the Bulldogs with five, but freshmen linebackers Brenton Cox and Channing Tindall each accounted for one last week and Monty Rice and Jonathan Ledbetter also had one. Auburn has given up the fourth most sacks in the SEC with 19.

Limit explosive plays

Auburn relies heavily on the short passing game. Georgia can’t let the quick game and screens turn into big plays. Ryan Davis’ 43 catches rank tied for fifth in the SEC.

The Tigers rank 99th nationally in plays of 20 or more yards this season (36) and had four in the passing game last week against Texas A&M. Georgia leads the nation in giving up the fewest plays of 20 or more yards (17), according to cfbstats.com.

Freshman receiver Anthony Schwartz is a threat with the ball in his hands. The high school track speedster scored on a 76-yard pass play this season and averages 8.9 yards per carry.

Solve goal-line woes

Perhaps Justin Fields is an answer near the goal-line for Georgia’s troubles there.

Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald rushed for 195 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries against Auburn. A week after being stopped after seven plays against Florida, Georgia had to settle for a chip-shot field goal last week when it couldn’t punch in a touchdown, leaving Smart livid on his headset. Fields rushed for 26 yards on six carries last week.

Auburn has held opponents to eight touchdowns in 27 red zone trips, second best in the nation.

Who has the edge?

Offense Edge: Georgia

How Georgia’s offensive line shapes up for this game will be worth watching.

Starting center Lamont Gaillard (knee) and right guard Cade Mays (shoulder) are coming off injuries against Kentucky and were limited early in the week. Redshirt sophomore guard Ben Cleveland (fibula) has missed the past four games and was practicing second-team.

The Bulldogs have plugged and play backups effectively under offensive line coach Sam Pittman, a nominee for the Broyles Award for nation’s top assistant. Offensive tackle Andrew Thomas graded out at 87 percent against Kentucky with no missed assignments.

Georgia is 28th nationally in total offense (456.2) and 20th in scoring (38.1).

Auburn is 90th in total offense (377.2) and 74th in scoring (28.3). The Tigers rank 10th in the SEC in yards per play at 5.6. Georgia is third at 7.0.

Elijah Holyfield is seventh in the SEC in rushing at 74.9 yards per game and D’Andre Swift is 10th at 69.1.

Auburn quarterback Jarrett Stidham is 11th in the SEC in passing efficiency. He has thrown 10 touchdowns with four interceptions and completed 60.6 percent of his passes.

Georgia’s Jake Fromm is second among SEC starters in efficiency. He has thrown for 17 touchdowns with four interceptions and completed 67.7 percent.

Geogia’s J.J. Holloman is 11th in the SEC in yards per catch at 16.9.

Auburn’s Darrius Slayton has 29 catches for 439 yards and a touchdown. 6-3 freshman Seth Williams has a team-leading four touchdown catches.

Defense Edge: Georgia

Georgia has allowed a total of 10 first-half points the last two games against Florida and Kentucky and an average of 292.5 yards per game to lower the Bulldogs to 13th in the nation in total defense at 306.6.

Auburn is ninth in the nation in sacks with 3.22 per game.

Georgia has allowed just one sack the past two games after giving up four against LSU.

The Tigers are fourth nationally in tackles for loss at 8.7. Defensive lineman Nick Coe has seven sacks and 13 ½ tackle for loss —second most in the SEC—and registered two against Texas A&M last week including a strip sack on the last play of the game.

The Bulldogs rank fourth in the SEC in scoring defense at 16.4 points per game and Auburn is sixth at 17.3

Auburn is sixth in the SEC in pass efficiency defense. Georgia is fifth. The Tigers are giving up 222.2 yards per game through the air—including 328 to Tennessee-ninth in the SEC. Georgia is second at 172.3.

The Tigers nine interceptions trail only LSU’s 15 and Alabama’s 13. Seven different players have picks led by safeties Daniel Thomas and Jeremiah Dinson have two each. Georgia is second in the SEC in fumbles gained with nine, behind only Florida.

Auburn linebacker Deshaun Davis is third in the SEC with 85 tackles. Defensive tackle Derrick Brown, a projected top 20 overall NFL draft pick. has 35 tackles and three and a half sacks. Marlon Davidson leads the Tigers with nine quarterback pressures and blocked three field goal tries.

“They’re heavy and they strike,” Smart said. “They want to stop the run and we want to keep moving the ball, and we’ll see how it goes.”

Special Teams Edge: Georgia

Auburn ranks second in the SEC in net punting at 43.3 per game. Georgia is 10th at 38.6.

Tiger punter Arryn Siposs is fourth in the SEC with a 45.7 yard average. Georgia’s Jake Camarda is ninth at 42.5.

Georgia kicker Rodrigo Blankenship is 15 of 17 on field goals with a long of 53. Auburn’s Anders Carlson is 11 of 21 with a long of 53. He is 3 of 12 from 40 yards and beyond.

Mecole Hardman leads the SEC with a 26.7 yard punt return average that would lead the nation if he had enough returns to qualify. Ryan Davis is fifth in the SEC at 10.3

Coaching Edge: Georgia

Kirby Smart is 29-8 in his third season as a head coach and 2-1 overall against Auburn including a win in the 2017 SEC title game. He is 9-1 in night games. Gus Malzahn is 51- 25 in his sixth season at Auburn and 60-28 overall in seven seasons as a head coach. He is 2-4 against Georgia. Athletic director Allen Greene told reporters this week that Malzhan would be back next season.

Intangibles Edge: Even

Auburn has a chance to do real damage to Georgia’s season, which could be a measure of payback against the team that beat them in the SEC title game last December. Georgia is finally back home for the first time since Oct. 6. After two pivotal wins and clinching the SEC East, players don’t expect a letdown.

“You play for a guy named Kirby Smart, that’s never really a worry in the world,” inside linebacker Natrez Patrick said. “He never lets you get comfortable. At the end of the day, we’re playing for something bigger. And I feel like the team has a pretty good idea of that.”

Overall Edge: Georgia

This is just Auburn’s third road game of the season. The Tigers lost at Mississippi State and won at Ole Miss. It’s been a while since the Tigers won between the hedges, going back to 2005. This Auburn team doesn’t look like it has the offensive firepower to end that drought- against a Georgia team that appears to be peaking down the home stretch of the season.

Matchup to watch

Auburn offensive line and running backs vs. Georgia defensive line and linebackers

 Auburn rolled up more rushing yards in the regular season last year against Georgia than any opponent on the Bulldogs schedule.

The Tigers ran for 237 in a 40-17 rout on the Plains, but SEC leading rusher Kerryon Johnson is gone as is fellow NFL second-round draft pick Braden Smith and three other offensive line starters.

Auburn is second-to-last in the SEC in rushing in league games at 120.8 yards per game, a drop of 140.9 yards per game from last season.

“We were very inexperienced coming into this year up front and (have) new running backs,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said.

Auburn mustered just 19 rushing yards on 21 carries but still beat Texas A&M 28-24 last week. The Tigers rank 82nd nationally in rushing.

“Gus has always tried to establish the run and they’ve got a guy who’s a really elite passer and they’ve got some really good wideouts,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “That combination makes it where they’re really explosive in the passing game. I know the mantra they have their ability to commit to the run is something they always do.”

Redshirt freshman JaTarvious “Boobie” Whitlow (642 yards, five touchdowns) rushed for 170 yards on 19 carries against Ole Miss but was held to 16 yards on eight carries last week coming off an ankle injury.

Sean Shivers is averaging 5.7 yards per carry with two touchdowns.

Malzahn said against elite teams, “you’ve got to manufacture rushing yards.”

Auburn tries to do that by the different avenues it takes to run the ball.

“Traditionally, he has so many misdirections and he has so many what I call eye candy, which is a reverse, a sweep, it’s a speed break, it’s a power, it’s a counter, a lot of run game,” Smart said. “You’re having to see a lot of runs. But more important than that is explosive plays. They’ve been really explosive in the passing game and we can’t give up big plays in the passing game or the running game and a big part of that is tackling.”

Georgia held Benny Snell and Kentucky to just 84 yards rushing last week.

“There was a lot of stuff going on in the air saying we couldn’t stop the run,” inside linebacker Natrez Patrick said. “It was just a want-to, a mentality that you’ve got to have.”

“They did a very good job with the run fits,” Malzahn said. “I thought they tackled pretty good, too. They play a lot of different guys, they keep them fresh, especially up front. They’ve got another really good defense.”

Patrick said playing the Tigers’ diverse offense means players “have to be locked in mentally,” and be ready to line up quickly when the Tigers go uptempo.

Georgia moved up to seventh in the SEC in average yards per carry allowed at 4.01. Auburn, whose offensive line starters include UMass transfer Jack Driscoll at right tackle, is 12th yards per rush at 4.2.

“We’re getting to the point now where we need to be more effective,” Malzahn said. “That’s our challenge whether it’s get more creative in the run game or do things a little bit different or not do some of those things as much. …All those things are being considered. The bottom line is we’ve got to run the football better.”

Georgia is hoping to repeat its showing against Kentucky.

“We hope to do the same thing,” defensive lineman Michael Barnett said, “stop the run and build a wall.”