The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry has a new wrinkle this season.
Both Auburn and Georgia are coming off a loss.
For the first time in 21 years, the Tigers and Bulldogs are staging a rebound game, with Auburn having lost 27-21 against visiting Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon and with Georgia having dropped a 41-34 thriller at Alabama on Saturday night. The Tigers led 21-10 before collapsing, while the Bulldogs fell behind the Crimson Tide 28-0 in the first 18 minutes, grabbed a 34-33 advantage on a 67-yard touchdown pass from Carson Beck to Dillon Bell with 2:31 remaining and then lost it 13 seconds later when Jalen Milroe and Ryan Williams connected on a 75-yard scoring strike.
“They’ve been in good spirits,” Georgia ninth-year coach Kirby Smart said of his players Monday afternoon during his weekly news conference. “They’re excited for an opportunity to go play again, and they know what’s at stake with Auburn. It’s a huge, historic rivalry, and this game has always been that way.
“Outside of the turnovers, they’ve got a really good football team. They’ve got good players. They’ve got good wideouts, and their quarterback is playing better and better.”
When asked about Saturday night’s comeback that came up short, Bulldogs redshirt sophomore tackle Earnest Greene III said, “At a place like this, we don’t really believe in moral victories.”
In 2003, Mark Richt’s Bulldogs hosted Auburn after getting upset by Ron Zook’s Florida Gators 16-13 in Jacksonville, while Tommy Tuberville’s Tigers traveled to Athens having just fallen 24-20 to visiting Ole Miss and senior quarterback Eli Manning. Georgia won that encounter 26-7.
The 129th meeting between Auburn and Georgia — the Bulldogs lead the series 64-56-8 and have won six straight — takes place Saturday afternoon at 3:45, and it will be televised by ABC.
Georgia fell from No. 2 to No. 5 in the latest Associated Press poll and sport a 3-1 overall record and a 1-1 Southeastern Conference mark. Alabama ended Georgia’s 42-game streak of regular-season wins, so the Bulldogs aren’t used to dealing with losses this time of year.
“I think we have a very set routine here, and we don’t make our routine based on outcomes,” Smart said, “so whatever number of wins we’ve had prior to this one, we’re going to do the same thing we do today. I really believe in that process.
“I believe in telling the truth about the opponent, telling the truth about the strengths and weaknesses of who you’re about to play, and then you coach every week the same.”
Auburn had hoped for a better second season under coach Hugh Freeze following last year’s 6-7 debut, but the Tigers squandered five home games to open the season with a 2-3 record that includes an 0-2 league mark. They have been their own worst enemies in every defeat, which is reflected by their staggering minus-11 turnover margin.
“We’re judged on results, and it’s my responsibility to bring results to this program that restore its glory,” Freeze said Monday. “I feel like we’re accomplishing good things there. We want to build up men first and return the glory to Auburn football, and we’re working tirelessly to do both, truthfully.
“Building takes time, and our process, when complete, is going to make everyone very, very proud to wear the orange and blue.”
The Bulldogs, who own 26 straight wins inside Sanford Stadium and haven’t lost consecutive regular-season contests under Smart since his first season, are healthy 24.5-point favorites.
Where is Frazier?
Georgia freshman running back Nate Frazier made quite a splash during the 34-3 opening rout of Clemson in Atlanta, rushing 11 times for 83 yards and a touchdown.
The 5-foot-10, 210-pounder from Compton, California, hasn’t been nearly as busy since, rushing six times for 28 yards against Tennessee Tech and three times for 2 yards against Kentucky. He did not play at Alabama.
“Nate’s doing a great job, and he’s improving week-to-week,” Smart said. “Trevor (Etienne) has been playing really good, and Cash (Jones) opened some things up for us the other night. We didn’t get to play Branson (Robinson) nearly enough, but Nate is not doing anything wrong. Really, the opportunity didn’t present itself the other night because of the type of game it was.
“That wasn’t going to be a patient, methodical game that might fit Nate more than what it turned into.”
Increased penalties
The Bulldogs averaged 4.4 penalties and 43.3 penalty yards per game last season.
So far this year, those clips are 7.8 and 72.5.
“One of the big things going into the season was that they were going to call defensive holding at a higher rate,” Smart said. “I know we’ve had that called a few more times than we’ve had it called in the past. That was not a call the other night that was really called very much, but we are higher in penalties and there is no great explanation.
“There is also not a stat that says being higher in penalties equals losses. Usually, your aggressive teams get penalized, but I don’t have a great explanation for it.”
No longer perfect
Georgia had been 16-for-16 in red zone opportunities (11 touchdowns and five field goals) this season until Beck’s final pass from Alabama’s 20-yard line was intercepted in the end zone.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.