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College Football: Georgia Looks To Defend Home Turf Against Auburn

by Josh Cagliani
11/07/2007

The Deep South’s oldest rivalry will continue in Athens on Saturday as the No. 18 Auburn Tigers roll into town to face the No. 10 Georgia Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs (7-2, 4-2 SEC) are coming off a homecoming win over Troy in which they put up 44 points. The win marked the second straight game the Bulldogs have scored over 40 points and the fourth time this year.

“For us right now, our greatest success has been with a very balanced attack, and a serious dedication to running the ball in order to set things up,” Georgia head coach Mark Richt said. “I can’t imagine us trying to go away from that.”

The rushing attack has been led by energetic freshman Knowshon Moreno. Moreno has rushed for 541 yards and scored seven touchdowns over the last three games. In each of those games Moreno set a career high in rushing yards.

The Bulldogs will have to keep that up against Auburn (7-3, 4-2 SEC), who ranks third in the conference in rushing defense, to defeat the Tigers. Auburn has only allowed 114 rushing yards a game and six rushing touchdowns this season. The 114 rushing yards allowed per game by the Tigers is a far cry from Georgia’s offense, which rushes for 173.7 yards a game.

“This is a very typical Auburn team,” Richt said. “They’re a physical, hardnosed bunch.”

On the other hand, Georgia’s defense showed some weakness in the passing game last week when it allowed Troy to throw for 373 yards.

Last year’s game between Georgia and Auburn ended with the Bulldogs upsetting the fifth-ranked Tigers 37-15. Tra Battle tied a school record in that game with three interceptions, one which was returned for a touchdown.

"Last year we had a great season going and thought we were pretty good until they got on the field and begged to differ,” Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville said. “They started at the beginning and kicked us all the way to the end.”

The game is not called the Deep South’s oldest rivalry for nothing. The series between the two teams started in 1892. The only years in which no games were held was during WWI and WWII.

This meeting will be recognized as the 111th meeting between the two schools, with Auburn holding the edge in wins 53-49-8. The series is the seventh-most played rivalry in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The longest belongs to Minnesota and Wisconsin.

In the 110 previous games between the Bulldogs and Tigers, the Bulldogs have outscored the Tigers by a total of 1,685-1,665, a difference of only 20 points.

“It’s just another game where we want to try to execute and come out with the win,” redshirt freshman Knowshon Moreno said. “It’s going to be a tough game, and we just have to stay focused and come out with the win.”

When it comes to wearing white uniforms, nobody has done that better than Auburn. The Tigers have won the last 15 games wearing their white uniforms, which they will wear on Saturday.

Georgia will try and counter this by asking the Bulldog faithful to wear black clothing at the game as a motivational tactic.

“The seniors asked me to encourage the Bulldog Nation to wear black to Saturday’s game,” Richt said. “I asked them why, and they said it would be cool and a great sign of unity.”

It will be a different look in Athens as the stands will become a sea of black, instead of the traditional red. Either way, the game is sure to provide drama as it is the only game on the college football schedule this weekend to include two ranked teams.

Unlike Georgia’s rivalry with Florida, which is known for long streaks of dominance by one team against the other, the rivalry with Auburn has been a seesaw affair with both teams getting pleasure from playing on the opponent’s field. The Tigers are 18-9 inside Sanford Stadium and have won 10 of the last 12 games in Athens.

The game is being nationally televised by CBS and will air at 3:30 p.m. The Bulldogs own a record of 32-22-1 on games broadcasted by CBS.