Danielson sees the Georgia-Auburn game…

… and isn’t as pessimistic about the Dawgs’ chances as I am.

“If I was Gus Malzahn, I’d want to play ten other teams in the SEC rather than Georgia this week,” Danielson said. “I don’t like the fact that Kirby Smart has faced me in big-time pressure games before, I think he is very attuned how to attack the Auburn offense. If you look at Georgia’s defense, they’re really coming on with a lot of young athletes on the defensive line. I think they tackle well at linebacker and it should be a really tough game.”

It’s not just the defense he likes, either.

Danielson likes the development of Georgia quarterback Jacob Eason and running backs Nick Chubb and Sony Michel.

“I like the fact that maybe we can’t run the ball on them all day … but he can strike any part of the field at any time and should keep that secondary from Auburn from sniffing around,” Danielson said. “I think this would be a tremendous victory for Auburn if they can do it, and I know that Kirby Smart will have his team ready for this game.”

One positive, I suppose, is that, while Sean White leads the conference in passer rating, he’s not exactly going to scare you in the running game, which is an area where the last two Auburn quarterbacks who beat Georgia were more than capable.  (He’s also a little banged up coming into this week’s game.)  Not sure that makes me feel as confident about Georgia’s defense as Danielson sounds, though.

Advertisement

“He’s found a home there that’s really good for him.”

Would it be too much to ask for a Georgia touchdown off a tipped pass Saturday afternoon?

I can’t wait to see the marketing for this.

Absent for eight years now, there are plans afoot for the Hula Bowl to make a comeback in 2018… in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The “I’ve got some ocean front property to sell you” jokes would write themselves, wouldn’t they?

This is your SEC East on drugs.

After ten weeks, Georgia has been eliminated from the division race, but South Carolina hasn’t.

I sure hope the worst part of Georgia’s 2016 season doesn’t come down to losing to Vanderbilt.

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Jim Chaney’s got a helluva narrow strait to navigate this Saturday.  Does he try to establish the run?  Well, check out Auburn’s run defense over the past five games:

• La-Monroe:  112 yards
• Mississippi State:  103 yards
• Arkansas:  25 yards
• Ole Miss:  105 yards
• Vanderbilt:  120 yards

Of that bunch, the Commodores had the best yards per carry average, a whopping 3.64.

Fine, then throw the ball.  Only, if you do, make sure you account for this:

The Bulldogs face an Auburn team that has been disruptive on the defensive front during the 2016 season. Through nine games, the Tigers have racked up 21 sacks, which places them fourth in the SEC. Stopping that pass rush has proven to be a difficult assignment and could be for a Georgia squad that has had its issues on the offensive line.

Carl Lawson has been chief among the hard-charging Tigers in 2016. The junior defensive lineman has been a menace throughout the season, racking up 8 1/2 sacks to sit only half-a-sack off the SEC lead.

None of which is to say Auburn’s defense is totally impervious.  The Tigers are one spot behind Georgia in SEC total defense, after all.  But to succeed with any game plan, it’s going to require better execution than we’ve seen most of the season.

Smart said a key part of stopping someone like Lawson is the offense not getting itself in positions where the Auburn defense knows a pass is inevitable. It’s a problem the Bulldogs have experienced a considerable amount in the past two weeks. Georgia faced six third downs with 7 yards or more to go against Florida and then dealt with nine in the win Saturday over Kentucky.

I think it’s fair to say the quality of Auburn’s defense is closer to Florida’s than Kentucky’s.

Even if you want to call the defenses on Saturday even, Auburn’s clear advantages in special teams and red zone defense means that Chaney’s gonna have to call his best game of the season and have his players execute at a higher level than they’ve produced at so far for the Dawgs to have a real chance.  That’s a pretty tall order.

The potential cherry on the 2016 sundae

As if we haven’t already seen enough new lows this season, Finebaum warns us another one may be on the horizon this Saturday.

What's on the line Saturday in Athens? A lot. Georgia hasn't lost all its home SEC games since 1957.#AUBvsUGA pic.twitter.com/WktXUNbjJO

— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) November 8, 2016

Just great.

Musical palate cleanser, obscure genius edition

It seems kind of fitting that this birthday tribute to Roy Wood got his age wrong.  While his Move and ELO cohort Jeff Lynne went on to fame and fortune, Wood never caught on similarly, despite the fact that he’s a pop genius.

The Move was one of those groups that should have been a much bigger deal than they ever were, at least in the states.  (They had a few big hits in England.)  If you never paid attention to them, here’s a clip of a song Cheap Trick covered, “California Man”.

There’s also the heavy, heavy “Brontosaurus”, from 1970.

And one more, from The Move’s last bit before Wood and Lynne went on to start Electric Light Orchestra, from 1971, “Tonight”.

Make sure you check out some of the clips in the linked article, too.