Bobo Versus Smart Back in the Spotlight

Kirby Smart and Dan Lanning's defense is at the forefront of every opponent's mind when facing Georgia. Georgia's extremely talented group on the defensive side of the football are letting up a nation's best 4.6 points per game, and the top-scoring defense with two touchdowns.

And they are hot. Georgia's defense is fresh off two straight shutout performances, the first coming against Vanderbilt, where the Dawgs offense scored 62 points. The latest was a Georgia offense without JT Daniels dismantling the Razorbacks 37-0.

Auburn will be the third-ranked opponent of the season for Georgia and potentially the first of a three-game stretch that sees Georgia face a top-25 opponent in three consecutive games.

The No. 18 Auburn Tigers come off two straight fourth-quarter comebacks, the first being a near upset loss to unranked Georgia State, and just last Saturday against LSU in Death Valley.

Georgia is sporting a 4-game win streak against Auburn under Kirby Smart so far, but this will be the first matchup under Auburn's new head coach Bryan Harsin. The former Boise State head coach, Harsin, may not bring prior SEC experience, but two of his coordinators do in former Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo and former Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason.

Vanderbilt fired the latter after an unsuccessful 0-9 season in Nashville with the Commodores. At the same time, Bobo joined Auburn this offseason after a one-season stint as the offensive coordinator at South Carolina.

Through the first five games, Bobo's offense is averaging 40 points per game and 351 yards of total offense, 239.8 yards passing, and 238.2 yards rushing.

The most recent matchup between a Kirby Smart defense and Mike Bobo offense was a season ago when JT Daniels and the upstart Georgia offense defeated the Gamecocks 45-16 in Columbia.

The two are no stranger to each other on the sidelines as coaches facing the other on occasion dating back to their days as coordinators at Alabama and Georgia, respectively, with Smart seemingly always have the upper hand when the two sides have clashed.

The most notable game between these two coaches dates back to the 2012 SEC Championship game where Alabama held off Georgia in the final seconds to advance to the National Championship.

Smart recognizes the creativity of a Bobo offense due to the history and will likely know what to expect this Saturday at 3:30.

BoBo (Mike Bobo) is very creative with quarterbacks that can run, so some quarterbacks that run can't throw so that he can throw and run. So it adds an extra element that sometimes the design runs are easier to defend than one when you think it's a pass because it is a pass, and he takes off.

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