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ATHENS, Ga. -- Georgia football coaches sat out a lot of their starters during the second half of last week's 38-0 win over Tennessee Tech.

That allowed reserves the opportunity for more action than normal, but it also gave starters more rest entering this week's game against No. 25 Auburn. Endurance is a requirement against the Tigers, who employ a run-oriented spread system that is designed to tire defenses.

"Honestly, their whole thing is to try and get our guys gassed and get them to where they're not mentally focused, they're making mistakes and they can't get lined up correctly," Georgia defensive line coach Rodney Garner said. "They want tongues hanging out. That's their whole philosophy behind it."

Georgia is the last Southeastern Conference team to face offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, who helped Arkansas win the SEC West during his one season with the Razorbacks in 2006 and has helped Gene Chizik's Tigers to a 7-3 start. Auburn is averaging 450.3 yards per game and is on pace to gain a school-record 5,854 yards.

Malzahn is working with the same components as last year, when Tommy Tuberville fired offensive coordinator Tony Franklin during the season and left himself after a 5-7 collapse.

Senior quarterback Chris Todd has thrown for 1,958 yards and 17 touchdowns this season after throwing for 903 yards and five scores a year ago, and he has cut his interceptions in half. Senior tailback Ben Tate has rushed for 1,142 yards in 10 games after rushing for 664 last year in 12, while sophomore receiver Darvin Adams leads the SEC with nine touchdown receptions after having just three catches as a freshman.

"I'm sure some of their personnel has matured some from a year ago," Bulldogs head coach Mark Richt said, "but to get them in position to make the plays that they've been making, especially offensively, is a tribute to their staff. What happens sometimes is that if you have a couple of good things happen to you early in the year, you will gain confidence quickly and you can build on that. It looks like that is what has been happening for them."

Auburn leads the league in total offense as well as first downs (21.5 a game). The Tigers are second in the SEC to Florida in third-down conversions, turning 41.7 percent of their opportunities into first downs, and have scored on 31 of 33 trips in the red zone.

With numbers like that, no wonder opposing defenses can get fatigued.

"If it's clicking and you're getting first downs, and that's the goal in this offense, that certainly has a huge impact on the rest of the game," Chizik said. "Can it wear a defense down? Yes, it can. Have we done that all year? No, not necessarily, but when it's operating on all cylinders, then you have a chance to wear defenses down."

When Auburn's offense struggles and three-and-outs are the result, the Tigers are in trouble defensively. They lost three consecutive games last month to Arkansas, Kentucky and LSU, and they didn't win the time of possession in any of them.

Auburn had the ball for only 21 minutes and 33 seconds of its 44-23 loss to the Razorbacks and enter this week ranked 11th in the league in possession time -- its 28:12 average leading only Vanderbilt.

Bulldogs coaches believe Auburn's offense is as fast-paced as they will see, which has made simulating that tempo difficult this week. They are not having to make widespread changes like they will in two weeks, when they must prepare for Georgia Tech's triple-option, but they are bracing for a unique system.

"It's not one that you could just flip on the film and say we are going to do exactly what we did last week," Richt said. "You have to get a good, strong plan and get the guys as many reps as you can because they are into creating chaos for you. That's what they want to do. They want to create confusion and bloody your nose in the meantime."