Georgia football: Observations of opponents after week one

Auburn might not be overrated

A running joke about Auburn over the past few years is that whenever Auburn starts the season ranked highly, they under-perform. And when they go into a year unranked with no expectations, they compete for the SEC West.

So with Auburn beginning the year in the top 15, if they follow the narrative, they’ll finish unranked and might even miss a bowl game. But Saturday, the Tigers showed that they might be legit this year.

Yeah they only beat a Georgia Southern team that is rebuilding and not exactly satisfied with their head coach. But Auburn did not lay an egg. The game was really close early with Auburn leading 10-7 after the first quarter. But they outscored the Eagles 31-0 in the final three quarters to win 41-7.

Statistically, Jarrett Stidham didn’t look great. But he in no way played a bad game. Running backs Kam Martin and Karryon Johnson both tallied 136 yards with a touchdowns and a 60-yard run each. On defense, the Tigers shut down Georgia Southern’s option attack, only allowing 70 yards on the ground and eight through the air.

Is this the year Auburn finally matches expectations? It’s way too early to tell, but with this performance, the answer might be yes.

Of course, Georgia played a better team in Appalachian State so a 31-10 win over them shows that (31-0 if you exclude the drives off of Ramsey’s interceptions). So Auburn looked very comparable to Georgia after week one.