Auburn football vs. Georgia: Scouting report, score prediction for Tigers' first road game

AUBURN — Will Auburn football's first road game mark the last stand for its coach?

The Tigers (3-2, 1-1 SEC) face No. 2 Georgia on Saturday afternoon at Sanford Stadium with Bryan Harsin hanging onto his job by a thread. Leading into the 127th edition of the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry, Auburn barely escaped Missouri in overtime before blowing a 17-0 lead against LSU.

While Georgia (5-0, 2-0) didn't look like the defending national champion in wins over Kent State and Missouri, its 49-3 thrashing of Oregon on Sept. 3 showed what it can do when firing on all cylinders. There's a reason the Bulldogs are favored by 29.5 points.

Here's our scouting report for Saturday (2:30 p.m. CT, CBS).

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Stetson Bennett still has doubters. Harsin isn't one of them.

"There are more guys that are bigger and more athletic," Harsin said Monday of the Bulldogs' quarterback. "I was fortunate to coach a guy that wasn't very athletic but won more games than any college quarterback ever."

Harsin's referring to Kellen Moore, who went 50-3 at Boise State from 2008-11. He sees plenty of Moore in Bennett, who's completed 116 of 168 passes for 1,536 yards this season.

The perception of Bennett as merely a "game manager" no longer aligns with the statistics — he's passing for 100 more yards per game than he did in 2021. Much of that's due to him having the country's best tight end duo (Brock Bowers and Darnell Washington), as well as reliable wideout Ladd McConkey.

The Tigers have held SEC quarterbacks to a completion percentage of under 50%, but will have to revamp its strategy after Eku Leota's likely season-ending injury. Georgia is not only the most talented aerial attack Auburn will have seen, but will show whether this secondary can have the same success despite a weakened pass rush.

Auburn wants to run up the middle. Is it as crazy as it sounds?

The short answer: probably.

Auburn will likely not, as center Brandon Council said Wednesday, run the ball, get into manageable third-down situations and "demolish" Georgia's interior defensive line. But in the absence of truly viable options against the nation's 12th-ranked defense, the Tigers could do worse than hammering Tank Bigsby up the gut.

Preseason All-American Jalen Carter will miss Saturday's game due to injury. Nazir Stackhouse and Zion Logue, the Bulldogs' top two snap-getters at defensive tackle, are two of their lowest-graded regulars on Pro Football Focus (70.3 and 54.1, respectively, though it's important to note PFF grades are subjective). End Tramel Walthour has a 56.9 grade. Missouri ran for a respectable 102 yards on 21 carries last week.

Here's the catch: Auburn is averaging just 2.7 yards per carry against Power 5 opponents and is on its third-string center.

The Tigers could also try attacking outside

Kelee Ringo achieved immortality with his national title-sealing pick-6 10 months ago. But his PFF grade in pass coverage this season is just 59.0. Fellow starting cornerback Kamari Lassiter has a 65.5 grade.

"They threw the ball at Kelee and Kamari a lot, but we also made them throw it to them," Georgia coach Kirby Smart said after Missouri had several big passing plays last Saturday. "... We’ve got to make some plays on the ball."

The Bulldogs will be helped out by the return of Javon Bullard, who was arrested for DUI and suspended against Mizzou. But targeting Ringo and Lassiter in one-on-one scenarios might be Auburn's best chance to consistently move the ball.

Robby Ashford threw for 337 yards on 19 completions against LSU. He hit Ja'Varrius Johnson for a 53-yard touchdown on the first drive and targeted Koy Moore eight times. Ashford has a big arm and his receivers have explosiveness. Harsin and Eric Kiesau would be wise to prepare a gameplan that takes advantage of those things.

Score prediction

Georgia 38, Auburn 10: The Tigers are reeling; the Bulldogs should come out angry after two games which were much closer than they wanted. The score will reflect that.

Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com, by phone at 334-201-9117 and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football vs. Georgia: Scouting report, score prediction