Since the start of the 2021 college football season, the Georgia Bulldogs are 33-1 with two national championships.
Auburn is 14-15 under two head coaches.
The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry resumes Saturday afternoon (3:30 on CBS) inside Jordan-Hare Stadium with Kirby Smart’s top-ranked and established Bulldogs as 14.5-point favorites. The Tigers under first-year coach Hugh Freeze are off to a 3-1 start but are averaging just 215.0 yards a game against Power Five opposition.
Auburn suffered its first defeat this past weekend when the Tigers were overwhelmed 27-10 at Texas A&M.
“I’m always truthful with our team,” Freeze said this week in a news conference. “I tell them every Monday whether they’re the favorite, whether this game is a toss-up or if they’re the underdog. We tell them, ‘That doesn’t mean you can’t win it, and this is how we’re going to win it.’ I’ve done that everywhere I’ve ever been, and I think it creates a transparency and an authenticity.
“I also tell them I’ve never walked into a game thinking we can’t win and that they shouldn’t either. You’re not supposed to take a Liberty team and beat Arkansas or Virginia Tech, and you’re not supposed to take an Ole Miss and beat Alabama, but we’ve done that, and we can do it here, too.”
One of Freeze’s many obstacles on the Plains is making this series with talent-rich Georgia competitive again.
When Auburn used a miraculous 73-yard pass from Nick Marshall to Ricardo Louis to defeat the Bulldogs 43-38 in 2013 — a play instantly dubbed “The Prayer In Jordan-Hare” — it gave the Tigers a 55-54-8 series edge. Since then, however, the Bulldogs have won nine of 10 meetings, including the past three by scores of 27-6, 34-10 and 42-10.
In fact, Auburn has been a far more competitive 8-13 against Nick Saban during Saban’s time at both LSU and Alabama compared to its 3-15 mark against the Bulldogs since 2006.
“They’re one of the gold standards in college football right now with what Coach Smart has done there,” Freeze said. “He’s got it rolling, so it will be a great test for us.”
Saturday’s outcome could be a complete opposite from the last time Georgia faced a Freeze-coached team, with Smart’s first season heading the Bulldogs in 2016 containing an early 45-16 loss at Ole Miss. That 29-point setback remains the worst defeat of Smart’s eight seasons.
Smart expressed his respect for Freeze this week and for the setting that is Jordan-Hare, which has been known to get a little hectic for visiting teams once the sun goes down. Even in Georgia’s 21-14 win at Auburn in 2019, the Bulldogs led 21-0 before having to turn the Tigers over on downs late to preserve the outcome.
This season’s Bulldogs have cruised to a 4-0 start, opening with four consecutive Sanford Stadium contests for the first time since 1999.
“I would not want to draw it up that way,” Smart said. “I really believe in going to play at a neutral site or getting an early road game, but there is not a lot of control I have over that. It will be one hell of an environment. They do an incredible job with their fan base. I’ve probably coached there more than any other location outside of here and Tuscaloosa.
“It’s just an incredible environment. Their fan base is second to none, and they’ve got a new coach and new energy.”
Stetson Bennett quarterbacked Georgia over Auburn the past three seasons, but that task now belongs to Carson Beck. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound junior from Jacksonville has steadily improved this month and enters Saturday having completed 93 of 128 passes (72.7%) for 1,184 yards with six touchdowns and one interception.
Beck’s 296.0 passing yards per game ranks 14th nationally, and his efficiency rating of 164.3 ranks 26th, but how will he perform in his first road start?
“That’s something that we’re going to find out,” Smart said. “I don’t think you know. I think he’s been through some ups and downs, and he’s certainly been against good defenses like Auburn has. He goes against our guys, but it’s different when it’s live, and you’ve got to find out how he responds to that.
“I’m very confident in Carson’s ability to communicate. He’s been in our system. You only get good at these situational football things by playing football for a long time, and he’s been with us for a while doing it. This is his first chance to do it on the road.”
Georgia ranks 11th nationally overall with 337.5 passing yards a game, while Auburn is 113th at 173.3. The Tigers used Payton Thorne, Robby Ashford and Holden Geriner at Texas A&M, but the trio combined on 9-of-23 passing for 56 yards and endured seven sacks.
Thorne, a transfer from Michigan State, has been the starter through four games.
“I feel like we have let them down because of all the other components that go into the passing game,” Freeze said. “That is what I’m determined to help get fixed this week.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.