Top-ranked Bulldogs To Be Tested At No. 10 Auburn

November in the SEC is a showcase, and there's nothing bigger this weekend than No. 1 Georgia heading to The Plains to take on 10th-ranked Auburn.

The Bulldogs (9-0, 6-0) have already clinched the SEC East, its first divisional title since 2012, while Auburn (7-2, 5-1) has a chance to take the SEC West crown and, maybe, nab a spot in the College Football Playoff. The Tigers have Alabama in a few weeks, and a win there and then a win in the SEC title game against Georgia could make Auburn the first ever two-loss team in the playoffs.

But Auburn cannot get ahead of itself.

Auburn's Kerryon Johnson is one of America's best running backs (Gridiron Now)

"I think you have to embrace the fact that you are playing the No. 1 or No. 2 team in the country on your home field," Tigers coach Gus Malzahn said. "Our goal is to win the SEC championship, and it has been since day one. This is the next step. It is a great opportunity for us, so it is a big game. We are not looking any farther ahead than Saturday, but this is a game we have been looking forward to, and it is here. There is a lot on the line. It is a good one."

Georgia, which is top five nationally in total defense and scoring defense, faces its biggest challenge to date -- a victory at Notre Dame notwithstanding. The Bulldogs more than doubled Auburn's yardage in last year's contest, but won just 13-7 and failed to score an offensive touchdown.

Auburn has lost two of the last three meetings at home, but Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart doesn't think that will make any difference at all.

"It's the same challenge it is at most SEC place, just a little bit louder. They have a good team," Smart said. "The better the team is, the tougher the place to play is. their fans get loud, get rowdy -- they are there pregame until the end and there have been some really loud moments playing in that stadium. I would not expect it to be any different on Saturday."

Auburn's only losses to date are to Clemson and LSU, the latter seeing the Tigers blow a 20-0 lead before falling 27-23. Since that game Auburn has exploded offensively, putting up 94 points and over 1,000 yards in wins over Arkansas and Texas A&M.

The Tigers want to get it done on the ground, with Kerryon Johnson the chief weapon. The junior has nearly 900 yards and has scored 15 touchdowns in seven games, and provides a bullish yet surprisingly nimble weapon in the backfield. Quarterback Jarrett Stidham has also improved his play, completing 72 percent of his throws in the last two contests.

Smart believes that if the Bulldogs can stop Johnson, they are in good position to win the game.

"At the end of the day he can go where he wants to with the ball," Smart said of Kerryon Johnson. "He has great speed. He gets a lot out of his runs. Last year against us he bounced out, he broke out and does a good job doing that. They know the defenses we are going to play. Gus has seen them for seven or eight years, it seems. we know the plays they are going to run. They are not going to reinvent the wheel. We have to go out there and play blocks, tackle the man with the ball and not give up big plays."

Georgia has been good in that aspect all season, allowing just 3.06 yards per rush and four touchdowns on the ground and just 21 runs of 10-19 yards in 2017 in 262 rush attempts.

Auburn has athletes, but thinking you can make plays and actually doing it, especially against a defense as lethal as Georgia's has been this year, is another story.

"You have to figure out ways to do it (big plays)," Malzahn said. "that's the challenge. When they can stop the run and still play two safeties, it's tough. You have to be balanced. The more talented a defensive team is, the more important it is to be balanced."

Like Auburn, Georgia will want to control the clock with its ground game. The Bulldogs are eighth in the country running the ball, and though Nick Chubb and Sony Michel get the headlines, Georgia is four deep in the backfield.

Georgia QB Jake Fromm has been steady as a freshman (Online Athens)

Auburn is nearly as grudging on the ground defensively as Georgia, allowing 3.34 yards per carry, so Georgia may need to pass a little more than it is accustomed to. That means more of the onus is on freshman quarterback Jake Fromm, who thus far has been superb, but hasn't been asked to win a game.

Fromm has completed nearly 70 percent of his passes in Georgia's last three games, with five touchdowns and just two interceptions. He's third in the country in passing efficiency and doesn't mind taking shots downfield, averaging 9.7 yards per attempt.

The last two times Auburn defeated Georgia -- 2010 and 2013 -- it played for the national championship. The last three seasons have seen no more than eight victories, so this game could prove to be redemptive for the Tigers. 

 Malzahn recalls how close his team was last year, and would love to replace that memory.

"Last year was an extremely tough loss -- the fact they won the game and didn't score an offensive touchdown," Malzahn said. "This is one we have been waiting on. I know our players and coaches are excited about it because we are playing one of the best teams on our home field."

This is just the fourth road contest of the season for Georgia, and first since an early October pasting of Vanderbilt.

The victory over Notre Dame was great, but also happened before we knew what the Irish really was.

This one will prove if the Bulldogs are for real.

"They get loud in there and do a really good job of creating an environment," Smart said. "They feed off of that. So the challenges are in front of us. We will find out a lot about this team playing on the road."

No.10 Auburn Roars Into Bayou Country To Take On Rejuvenated LSU

There is still a lot of football left to be played this season, but this week certainly feels like a "prove it" week in the SEC, certainly as far as Auburn and LSU are concerned.

Auburn has won five in a row, against somewhat suspect competition, after losing its opener to Clemson, and has ascended to 10th in the national rankings. LSU won a huge game last weekend against Florida, erasing the sting of a home loss to Troy two weekends ago but still with some struggles.

Both teams are still in the hunt in the SEC West, but the loser this weekend could face a real uphill battle.

Auburn (5-1, 3-0) is one of a number of SEC teams living on defense, allowing more than 14 points just once this season, giving up 23 to Ole Miss, though two scores came in the fourth quarter well after the outcome was decided. Auburn ranks sixth in the country in scoring defense and among the top 25 against both the pass and the run.

Auburn's Kerryon Johnson leads the nation with 12 touchdowns (SEC Country)

LSU (4-2, 1-1) righted the ship -- at least temporarily -- with a gritty 17-16 victory at Florida last Saturday,  and should be getting back some key players for this game, including defensive end Frank Herron. Fellow end Rashard Lawrence has not been 100 percent, nor have running backs Derrius Guice and Darrel Williams.

Auburn coach Gus Malzahn knows that LSU will be brimming with confidence, so his team will need to stay on task if it wants to continue on its quest for an SEC West title.

"Our message has been each week to get better, and the last three weeks I feel like we’ve done that," Malzahn said. "We are going to have to continue to do that on the road at LSU.”

Malzahn wants to keep LSU off balance, and unlike Florida has the parts to do it.

Jarrett Stidham has steadily improved at quarterback, ranking among the nation's top 10 in passing efficiency and completing over 71 percent of his passes. Stidham has gone three straight games without an interception, and continued strong play from him will keep the Tigers offense humming.

“He’s getting better," Malzahn said. "You can tell he’s getting more comfortable and more confidence and he’s playing at a high level and we’ve just got to keep building upon that.”

Kerryon Johnson isn't typically talked about as one of the best running backs in the SEC, but with a nation's best 12 touchdowns and a nearly six yards per carry average, maybe he should be. Johnson hasn't been healthy for much of the season, but Malzahn has seen signs that he's almost all the way back.

“If you look at the last three weeks, you could tell he hasn’t been 100 percent," the coach said. "At Missouri, he had a couple chances to hit some seams and turn on the gas. He didn’t want to re-pull his hamstring, so he geared it down. Against Mississippi State, you saw him break and he geared it down. Last week when he broke, he was able to turn it loose. You can see that he is getting healthier. Last week he wasn’t quite 100 percent, but he was close. Our goal this week is to have him 100 percent. We will be very smart with him in practice. He is playing at a very high level and when he is on the field, he can do a lot of different things.”

LSU didn't dazzle offensively against the Gators, but showed signs of improvement by converting nearly 50 percent on third down, not turning the ball over and rushing for over 200 yards with banged up running backs, against one of the best front sevens in the conference.

The Tigers found a way to get it done, and there is an overwhelming belief that all of the turmoil surrounding the program may have just brought the team closer together.

"It was every ounce of energy, every person in the building gave it," LSU coach Ed Orgeron said. "And that's what it takes. And our mindset was of that. And we finally galvanized as a team. I don't think before we were playing as a team. I think we galvanized as a staff. I think that was important.

"We had better practices. And, again, it came down to one point. Let's face it. The kicker missed an extra point. You know what I'm saying? That's what happened. We're in the SEC. It's very physical. When we were up 17-3, I wish we could have kept that lead and kept sustaining. But we let them get back in with some drives, stopped ourselves with some drives. But I believe that every game is going to have to be: We win as a football team, not one unit or the other."

Guice has not rushed for over 100 yards since early September but showed moments last week where he had that familiar explosion through the hole. He and Williams will need to play well if LSU is to dictate to Auburn, because LSU ranks below 40th nationally in most important offensive categories.

Defense has long been LSU's calling card, and this year is no different. The Tigers are seventh nationally in sacks, an area where Auburn has been weak, ranking 122nd in protecting the quarterback.

LSU's Arden Key will be a focal point for the Tigers D (Associated Press)

That means Herron and Lawrence and Arden Key, who has yet to really get it going this season, could be ready to wreak havoc.

Auburn begins a tricky part of its schedule, with this being the first of three straight road games. The Tigers won't play at home again until Nov. 11, when Georgia comes to town.

"The meat of our schedule is coming up," Malzahn said.

He hopes that his team will continue to worry about its own business, and pay no attention to what's going on outside of the program.

“Whether it is four weeks ago or whether it is today, our team stays pretty insulated," Malzahn said. "We don’t worry about anyone else’s expectations or what they think outside. It is just about us getting better. We are playing better. I told our team we have not arrived and that I will let them know when we arrive." 

It is a rare 3:30 p.m. kickoff at Tiger Stadium and will change the routine for LSU, which is more accustomed to nighttime kickoffs. A night game in Baton Rouge is unlike anything else in the country, but Orgeron is imploring fans to bring that after dark mindset to the afternoon.

"We're going to need them," Orgeron said. "And there's a lot of things that we don't like that we have to do in life. So hopefully they can get up a little earlier, put a little something in their coffee, to make them come up and let's go."

Orgeron noticed growth from his team in the days leading up to the Florida contest. In previous games, there was finger pointing and hanging teammates out to dry, including members of the coaching staff.

With the season threatening to spiral out of control, LSU banded together.

"It's a testament that we believed in each other last week," Oregeron explained. "Nobody blinked. I think the staff came together more last week than any week. The team came together. The leadership evolved. Through adversity, we became stronger. We felt that going into the game. Our guys say: We are not getting on this plane unless we win the game. That was new. That was a great mindset. The meetings, the intensity, the detail all week, when your back's against the wall, the way our guys responded.

"I need to lead this team better. And although we had success, we have to deal with this thing, and we have to put it to bed coming on 5:00, because we've got a very tough opponent coming. So we have another challenge ahead."

The visitor in this series has lost 15 of the last 17 contests, with LSU winning the last two in Baton Rouge by double digits.