If Georgia wants to put itself in the best position to make the College Football Playoff, it cannot under any circumstance lose a massive rivalry game to Auburn. Georgia got back into the win column last Saturday by giving the Kentucky Wildcats all they could handle on the ground. Georgia extended its winning streak over Kentucky to 16 games. While Georgia has owned Auburn, this team is desperate.
Fortunately for the Dawgs, there are many things working in their favor from this being a potential trap game for them. The first is Georgia already has its first loss of the season out of the way. Had the Dawgs been undefeated coming into this rendition of The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry, that might be a different case. Georgia can afford one more loss this season, but it cannot come in this ballgame.
A second is that Georgia had an opportunity to get right vs. Kentucky. Had that home game vs. the Wildcats had been at any other point in the season, Auburn would have been such a huge trap game with Ole Miss coming to town in two weeks. Another big factor is that this game is on the road. If it were in Athens, that might oddly play into Auburn's favor. Then again, the Tigers never win in Athens.
There is also this other underrated factor heading into the game that Smart cannot be overlooking...
There is too much at stake for Georgia to overlook Auburn on Saturday.
So we have addressed the notion of Georgia having a loss already on the season, the fact they just played their get-right game at home vs. Kentucky, that this is a huge SEC rivalry, and that it is on the road for the Dawgs. What else contributes to Georgia not overlooking Auburn here? It might be at night and the Tigers may have great weapons outside the numbers, but this is all about Hugh Freeze...
What Smart, and hopefully the rest of his staff, has to realize is Freeze is desperate. For as clutch as the road win was over Baylor in Week 1, that was ages ago. Auburn has lost its first two games of the season in league play with defeats to Oklahoma and Texas A&M. If the Tigers start conference play out at 0-3, the Tigers are not only not making the playoff, but Freeze might be gone before December.
So needless to say, there are a lot of factors working in Georgia's favor to actually have a great deal of respect for Auburn. While Georgia never loses to them at Sanford Stadium, Jordan-Hare is such a tough place to play, especially at night. The extra time to think about what is at stake should allow for Georgia to come in with an extra bit of focus. Freeze's job is on the line, and Smart has to know that.
Expect for the events of the last month to help Georgia get the win and improve 5-1 (2-1) this season.