UGA vs. Auburn preview

In the post-Soulja Boy world, UGA will meet up with Auburn this weekend on the Plains for what should be a tough contest for both teams. 

Auburn is still upset over UGA's Blackout and Soulja Boy dancing stunt that was pulled in 2007 and it's been all the talk of the Auburn players all week long. Regardless of their record, or statistics, Auburn feels that they will beat UGA handily.

The Dawgs, on the other hand, are fighting for respect in a different manner. Auburn is concerned with getting a "W" in order to keep their bowl hopes alive, whereas UGA is just as concerned with their performance as they are walking out with a win.

Earlier this week, senior DT Corvey Irvin took it upon himself to organize a players only meeting in which they addressed the attitude from the players on the defensive side of the ball.

Truth be told, this game is one of those old school rivalry games where statistics will not matter at all. Execution of fundamentals will be the tale of the tape in this one. 

In nearly every offensive category, the Auburn offense is near the bottom of the pile, NATIONALLY. It turns out that firing an offensive coordinator in the middle of the season, no matter how bad he is, will do that to you. However, they do have a defense that when firing on all cylinders, is a very fast and extremely tough to convert 3rd downs on.

The only thing that helps UGA in this regard is the fact that Tray Blackmon for Auburn is not going to play this game, and he might not ever play in another Auburn uniform ever again due to some off field issues. That's a pretty big blow to this defense, figuring he was considered by most to be their best player.

What UGA needs to do in order to walk out of Auburn with a win is stop the run first and play solid, assignment based defense. The Dawgs didn't do that last week against Kentucky and if they have the same tackling problems that they had last week, there will be big problems in Athens on Sunday.

Offensively, UGA should match up pretty well with this Auburn team in the running game, but the Dawg receivers will have their hands full on Saturday. Auburn has a very solid secondary and they should match up well with UGA's big play receivers in Massaquoi and Green. 

All in all, this game should be a great one to watch and the team that misses the least amount of assignments will be the one that wins on Saturday. In this game, Auburn is the one playing with all the pressure, while UGA is the team with more to prove. Defensively, I'd have to think Auburn has the edge, but UGA's offense is so head and shoulders above that of the Tigers, that I think UGA walks away with this game and seals the deal somewhere in the 3rd quarter.

UGA: 38

Auburn: 17