Can the Dawgs Even the Series in the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry?

We start this day with an all-time ledger of 53-54-8 with the Tigers from Auburn. All indications are that this is the day that we even the series. Auburn enters 2-7 with nary a win in the SEC. The Dawgs enter 8-1 and set to secure a return trip to the Dome for the SEC Championship Game if they can, as expected, win the SEC East with a victory on the Plains tonight.

Auburn's defense has been surprisingly atrocious. Surprising because they now have Brian Van Gorder coordinating. Admittedly, most Dawg fans were worried about this hire when it was announced. Now, we scratch our heads as we gaze upon Auburn's national ranking of 87th in Total Defense. It is stunning that BVG's defense is playing so poorly.

On offense, the Tigers are even worse, ranked 116th in the nation in Scoring Offense with a paltry 19.2 points per game. In Total Offense they are ranked 116th.

Do those numbers get you fired up? NOT SO FAST! Kentucky is ranked even worse on offense and we let them hang around for 60 minutes. As awful as Auburn has been at times, they only lost to #9 LSU by a score of 12-10 and to #10 Clemson 26-19. Last year the Auburn game was our annual "open a 55 gallon drum of whoop ass" game. This year, we already had that game against Vanderbilt so I am not expecting a redux of the 45-7 thrashing we visited upon Auburn last year. Instead, I think Auburn will come up guns blazing and may even take an early lead. I'm not talking about a 1993 Ben Leard 28-0 Auburn lead. But maybe 7-0 in the first quarter. However, Georgia will punch back and will hammer Auburn with a balanced offensive attack and will gradually add to the lead until when it is over, it won't look close but it won't feel that way while it is happening. Figure something along the lines of 7-7 at the end of the 1st; 17-10 at the half; 27-13 at the end of 3rd; and 30-13 final. It won't be nearly as gratifying as last year but every win on the plains is a beautiful game.

A few things I hope to see:

- 75% completion Aaron Murray, not SC/FL Aaron Murray.
- More tightend (like more cowbell only better). With Marlon Brown now out, I would like to see Lynch and Rome step up.
- Gurshall rushing for over 200 would be sweet. We haven't been treated to a long one in a while. That ends today.
- All Jarvis all the time. Auburn OL Chad Slade certainly issued the challenge by saying that it's not hard to stop Jarvis Jones. We shall see.
- Smothering defense. Today, we find out if our defense is truly "back" if they can make it 3 consecutive games of steady, consistent, assignment football and shut down Auburn like they did Florida and Ole Miss. I think they will. Yielding around 13 points will be a good outcome.
- SEC East Baby. Get it done.

Go Dawgs! GATA!