Auburn's Offensive Line Must Improve against Georgia's 'Resilient Defense

After a much-needed bye week, the Auburn Tigers turn their focus to Saturday and one of college football’s most historic matchups- a showdown with the No.10 Georgia Bulldogs a part of “The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.”

Against Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze sits at 0-2. Yet, the last time the Dawgs crossed state lines to play in Jordan-Hare Stadium, they escaped by a single possession.

Any college football fan knows that playing a night game in Auburn is different. Whether it’s the Prayer at Jordan-Hare or the Kick-Six, it’s clear when the sun sets, wild things can happen.

But, that Jordan-Hare magic can’t be the only thing that Auburn fans can rely on.

Aside from trying to contain quarterback Gunner Stockton and the Dawgs, if Auburn has any real shot in pulling off an upset, it starts with the offensive line.

Even though the Tigers' offensive line has a home crowd on their side this time, when playing in tough matchups against Oklahoma and Texas A&M, they’ve struggled.

“Auburn has 44 total penalties for 345 yards and half of them come from this unit on pre-snap penalties. The Tigers have been called for 12 false starts and six holding penalties in three road games. This unit has also allowed 21 sacks, resulting in a loss of 119 yards,” according to AL.com.

If not for a majority of those mistakes, Auburn could very well be sitting at 4-1 right now instead of 3-2. Against a team like Georgia, Auburn’s offensive line has to focus on limiting the unnecessary penalties and giving quarterback Jackson Arnold better protection up front.

Because Arnold already has a target on his back- and that UGA defense will do everything they can to make him feel the pressure.

On Monday, ahead of the matchup, Freeze spoke highly of the Georgia defense and their ability to quickly adjust. After all, this team is very accustomed to high-pressure situations, including a tough road win in Knoxville this year- showing they’re a seasoned team.

“I mean, those linebackers are as good as you’re going to see. The secondary is very talented. They’re big up front. Maybe not as twitchy as some that you’ve seen. But boy, they play their technique extremely well. They’re deep. They adjust and they know (their assignments) exactly,” said Freeze.

Freeze also noted that even after playing Smart all these years and feeling like he knows what’s coming, he always seems to pull another trick up his sleeve.

“I have played Kirby a long time, and you hurt them with a play, you can be assured that they’ll have an answer for the next time. And they’ll have some kind of twist, obviously, that we haven’t seen that will be prepared for us, but they’ve certainly put themselves in the position to win most of their games,” said Freeze.

“Even the Tennessee game, where they gave up a lot of points. That happens sometimes when teams get momentum, but their guys found a way to get stops when they had to to get the win. They are resilient also.”

As Auburn fans continue to show much frustration with Freeze and offensive play-calling in general, Saturday will pose a true test- to see if the Tigers’ offense has learned anything from their recent struggles and if they can finally get it together.

Above all else, one thing will be for sure- in what will be an 18th consecutive sellout, Jordan-Hare will certainly be rocking on Saturday night.