Preview: Auburn at Georgia

September 30, 2020 by Staff

Auburn, ranked 8th in the AP Poll, visits No 4 Georgia for the 125th meeting in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry on Saturday, October 3, at Sanford Stadium in Athens. ESPN will televise the 7:30 p.m. ET conference matchup.

Georgia leads the series 60-56-8, winning 15 of the last 19 games. Auburn owns a winning record in Athens (18-15) while Georgia has a winning mark on the Plains (17-12-2). The Bulldogs were 27-10 winners in the last game played in Athens (2018); Georgia was a 21-14 winner last season at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Auburn is 17-22-1 against ranked Georgia teams all-time (6-11-1 in Auburn), while the Bulldogs are 13-28-1 vs. the Tigers when they are ranked (7-11-1 in Auburn).

This is the earliest meeting during the season since the very first game between the schools in 1892 (played February 20) and will be only the sixth time the matchup has been played in October; the last was in 1936 (October 24).

The Auburn-Georgia series is tied for the second-most played current FBS series entering this season [Minnesota-Wisconsin 129, Cincinnati-Miami, Ohio 124, North Carolina-Virginia 124]. The series is older than the Georgia-Georgia Tech (112 games) and the Auburn-Alabama series (84 games).

Auburn and Georgia first met in 1892 at Atlanta’s Piedmont Park; each first played its in-state rival in 1893. The two teams did not play in 1943, because Auburn did not field a team due to World War II, and did not play in 1917 and 1918 because of WWI and the subsequent influenza outbreak. With those exceptions, Auburn and Georgia have played continuously since 1898.

Preseason all-SEC Tigers as selected by the league’s coaches include first-team LB K.J. Britt and DE Big Kat Bryant, OL Brodarious Hamm on the second team and WR Seth Williams and DB/RS Christian Tutt as third-team selections.

Auburn quarterback Bo Nix has a current streak of 218 consecutive pass attempts thrown without an interception, second nationally behind Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence (276).

Auburn is coming off a 29-13 home win over Kentucky in which the Tigers were an 8.5-point Vegas favorite, but were a 0.64-point underdog in the Congrove Computer Rankings at CollegeFootballPoll.com.

The Oct. 3 home opener for Georgia will be the latest in Bulldog history since the 1966 SEC champions made their Sanford Stadium season debut on Oct. 8. It was the fourth game of the year and the Bulldogs beat Ole Miss 9-3.

Redshirt freshman D'Wan Mathis got the start in Georgia's season opener last week and then in the second quarter, junior Stetson Bennett came in to help spark the Bulldogs to a 37-10 road win over Arkansas. Georgia was a 23.5-point Vegas favorite in that game while the computer's prediction (-27.36) basically nailed the exact margin.

Mathis finished 8-for-17 for 55 yards and an interception during his first outing. Bennett went 20-of-29 for 211 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for a two-point conversion.

Wake Forest Jamie Newman was expected to be the starter, but opted-out. Georgia also has redshirt sophomore USC transfer JT Daniels and early enrollee Carson Beck competing for playing time. Daniels is waiting to be medically cleared in 2020.

TV: ESPN
Time: 7:30 P.M. Eastern, 6:30 P.M. Central

Consensus Odds: Georgia (-6.5) after opening at -7
Congrove Computer Rankings: Georgia (-8.23)
Matchup