Referred to as “the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry,” the annual Georgia-Auburn game has been heavily one-sided for the better part of a decade.No. 10 Georgia will look to extend its dominance over host Auburn on Saturday night in Southeastern Conference play.Georgia (4-1, 2-1) climbed two spots in the latest AP Top 25 rankings after posting a 35-14 victory over outmatched Kentucky last week. The Bulldogs are favored again this week as they search of their ninth straight win against the Tigers.After Georgia was outscored by a combined first-quarter score of 28-7 in its first two SEC games against Tennessee and Alabama, Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart put an emphasis on starting fast. The Bulldogs won the opening quarter 14-0 against Kentucky — a trend Smart would love to replicate.”Do we want to start fast? Yes. What made us start fast? I can’t give you an answer to that,” Smart said. “We didn’t take a pill. We didn’t inject anything. We didn’t have a different pregame meal. We go out to execute every game.”Six of Georgia’s eight consecutive wins in the series have come by double figures, but Smart knows his team will get Auburn’s best shot.”They’ve got a great football team,” Smart said of the Tigers. “They’ve played two really, really hard road games against two of the premier teams in our league. They’re playing really good defensively. Got a lot of weapons on offense, got a lot of great skill players, a lot of great players on special teams. Always respect Coach (Hugh) Freeze’s teams.”Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton has been held under 200 passing yards in each of his last two games, but his five rushing scores are tied for the most by an SEC quarterback.Auburn (3-2, 0-2) will have had two weeks to prepare for its rival after suffering a close loss, 16-10, to then-No. 9 Texas A&M on Sept. 27. The Tigers’ two losses, to Oklahoma and the Aggies, have come by a combined 13 points.
