AU FOOTBALL: Focus turns to ‘fun’ week preparing for Georgia

Gene Chizik rattled off the reasons why Auburn and Georgia’s rivalry is a meaningful and historic one as if he were reading cue cards.

A few hours later, defensive coordinator Ted Roof was reminiscing about his four collegiate games as a player against the Bulldogs and his fond memories of growing up on the “Junkyard Dawgs.”

A handful of Auburn players with Georgia connections galore followed with recruiting stories and reasons why they chose Auburn over their native in-state powerhouse.

Georgia week around the Auburn Athletic Complex certainly brings a different vibe than, say, Furman week.

“It’s fun,” Roof said. “It’s a fun game.”

The Tigers head to Athens on Saturday for the 113th meeting of the oldest rivalry in the Deep South with plenty of momentum, plenty of stories to tell and, firstly, plenty of respect for the Bulldogs, whose season has reminded some across the college football world of Auburn’s woeful 2008 season.

Auburn’s players and coaches seemed very up to date about the intricacies of Georgia’s offense and defense Sunday — a telling sign that preparation for Saturday’s game kicked off sometime during Furman week.

“They’re very, very talented,” Chizik said. “They’re still a really, really good football team with a ton of talent. They’ve beaten some
really good football teams. I don’t think anything has changed with them. They’re going to do what they do and they’re not going to
panic.”

The Bulldogs are a surprising 5-4, though three of their losses came at the hands of top 10 teams (Oklahoma State, Florida and LSU). Rumors have swirled about head coach Mark Richt’s job security and landing in a postseason bowl game for the 13th
consecutive season is by no means a lock.

Dynamic playmakers Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno are both gone, making millions in the NFL, which has translated to a rocky transition on the offensive side of the ball.

Quarterback Joe Cox’s job security has also come into question over the past few weeks and no one on the roster has scored more than two rushing touchdowns, leaving superstar wideout A.J. Greene as the lone main attraction on Georgia’s offense.

That’s more than enough, Roof said.

“They’ve got a lot of weapons,” Roof said. “They throw the ball down the field … and I think they’ve gotten their running game going.
They’re hitting some vertical creases and they’ve got a wide variety of backs.

“There’s a lot of balance. And they’re a good unit.”

History, of course, doesn’t lean toward any sort of lopsidedness to come away from Saturday’s primetime kick at Sanford Stadium.

Through 112 meetings, the two teams are separated by just 49 points. The road team has won nine of the last 14.

Auburn’s three-game losing streak in the series is its longest since 1946-48 and the last time either team lost three in a row was from 1983-85.

Though the cliché “you can throw the records out ” doesn’t exactly apply to the Iron Bowl, it certainly does for Auburn’s second biggest rivalry.

For what it’s worth, the early line from Vegas has the Bulldogs favored by 4½  points.

“It’s always been one of those games that is separated usually be very few points,” Chizik said. “It’s kind of a different series.”

Auburn, meanwhile, is vying to make its reappearance on the postseason bowl scene a more glamorous one. A win Saturday makes the Cotton Bowl, Outback Bowl or even the Capital One Bowl a realistic possibility.

“You never want to go to a really small bowl,” linebacker Craig Stevens said. “You always want to get the best bowl you can get. A lot of people, it runs through your mind, but at the same time you have to win before you can get to a bowl.

“Mostly we’ve just been focusing on who’s the next opponent and how we can come out with a victory.”

That focus won’t be tough to establish this week.

There’s no such thing as looking past Georgia for the Iron Bowl.

“I haven’t beaten Georgia since I got here,” Stevens said. “I haven’t experienced that and I feel like a lot of players don’t want to leave here without having experienced that. Especially with us going there, that would be a big victory for us.”

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