Auburn Travels to Georgia for Week 2
The No. 7 Auburn Tigers (1-0) will take on the No. 4 Georgia Bulldogs (1-0) Saturday night in Athens, Georgia.
Auburn and Georgia both opened up their regular season last week with victories. The Auburn Tigers played Kentucky at Jordan Hare Stadium winning 29-13. The Georgia Bulldogs played on the road against Arkansas and emerged victorious, 37-10
The Auburn and Georgia game is known as The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry. This year the games will look different. Normally, both team would play on the final month of a regular season. Auburn had to move the game up to help break away from playing Georgia and Alabama in a three-week span.
"Honestly, to me it doesn't matter when we play them. We could play them early. We could play them late. Shoot, we could play them after the season is over. We just know we have to turn it up," said Auburn wide receiver Anthony Schwartz on Sunday.
Auburn was ranked No. 11 in the preseason, but after the first game they moved up to No.7. With out a doubt it is because of the Tigers unbelievable defense. Auburn's defense showed out against Kentucky, they racked up eight tackles for loss and forced three turnovers. The Tigers only gave up 3.6 yards rushing.
The Tigers quarterback Bo Nix looks better than ever despite the inexperienced offense. Nix completed 16 of 27 passes for 233 yards and had three scores. Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said , "he made some outstanding throws," calling his pass to Eli Stove on an out-and-up route "perfect."
Georgia played against Arkansas last week, but even though the Bulldogs won, it was less than impressive in its victory. Georgia did not lead the game until half way through the third quarter and this was against a team that has not won a conference game in three years.
"I think all of our backs have the ability to make people miss, but they have to do it at a higher level," Smart said. "We have to block much better on the second level in terms of our receivers, cut off blocking and turning a couple 10-and 12-yard runs into bigger runs. There were some missed opportunities there, and we have to move up front a little better. At the end of the day, that's what it takes to be able to run the ball."
The Bulldogs started off freshman quarterback D'Wan Mathis for the first game against the Razorbacks, he was replaced mid-way through the game by Stetson Bennett as the offense struggled. However, USC transfer JT Daniels joined the team on Monday after being cleared by the doctors. Georgia head coach Kirby Smart has not commented on who he will start against the Auburn game.
Auburn will take on Georgia at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday at Athens.
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