Todd Gurley Returns, but Nick Marshall Can Be the Star of Auburn vs. Georgia

The primary focus of Auburn's trip to Georgia on Saturday will be the return of Bulldogs running back Todd Gurley. The junior, a preseason Heisman Trophy candidate, missed the last four games because of a suspension for signing his name on memorabilia items for money.

But the game is also a return for Auburn quarterback Nick Marshall.

The senior began his college career as a cornerback for the Bulldogs in 2011. However, he was booted from the team in February of 2012 for a violation of team rules, which was later determined to be theft of a teammate.

Now, with the Tigers hoping to avoid a second straight loss, Marshall returns to his former school.

"I think it's going to mean a lot to Nick," Auburn defensive end Gabe Wright told Brandon Marcello of AL.com. "He mentioned that he hasn't been back since his freshman year."

Butch Dill/Associated Press

In a game that could feature a lot of points, Marshall—not Gurley—could be the star of the show. As Bleacher Report's Barrett Sallee wrote earlier this week, Gurley isn't even the X-factor on his own team.

Yes, having Gurley back is huge, but the Bulldogs ran the ball just fine without him. In fact, Georgia as a team rushed for at least 200 yards in the three of the past four games in Gurley's absence, averaging just over five yards per carry.

Freshman Nick Chubb showed he was more than capable of shouldering the load.

Rather, Georgia should be concerned about how it's going to stop Auburn's rushing attack, led by Marshall and running back Cameron Artis-Payne. Combined, the two have 1,888 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns. That alone is more than 93 other FBS teams this season.

More specifically, Marshall accounts for roughly 50 percent of Auburn's total yards per game and 60 percent of the team's offensive touchdowns.

The Bulldogs gave up 632 yards on the ground in the past two games, 418 of which came against Florida when the Gators attempted just six passes for 27 yards.

Neither Florida nor Kentucky are anywhere near as good running the ball as Auburn is. For comparison, the Tigers rank eighth in the country at 5.93 yards per carry and average just over 286 yards per game. The Gators and Wildcats average at least 1.3 fewer yards per carry.

What's even more impressive is that Auburn gets those kinds of numbers while being efficient.

The Tigers get labeled as a no-huddle, hurry-up team that runs 100 plays a game when nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, Auburn runs about 72 plays per game—17 fewer than Baylor, which leads the nation in that category—at a nifty two-to-one run-to-pass ratio while averaging seven yards per play.

John Bazemore/Associated Press

Ultimately, there are two things that have hurt Auburn: defense and mistakes. The Tigers have given up at least 30 points, lost the ball nine times and committed 31 penalties in their past four SEC games.

Not surprisingly, Auburn is 2-2 in that stretch despite having little trouble scoring.

Even though Georgia's strength is solely in the ground game, a shootout between these two offenses is definitely possible. In potentially tight games where every play seems to matter, you want your best player on the field at all times.

That's less likely to happen at the running back spot with substitutions. Gurley may be the best player on the field, but only Marshall is going to handle the ball on every snap.

As Marcello points out, Marshall has had a knack for making big plays when it matters most:

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The big-game quarterback has proven dependable under the lights in his 22-game career with the Tigers, too, while leading five fourth-quarter comebacks, including the miraculous 73-yard touchdown pass that knocked off Georgia in 2013 and cemented his name in Auburn lore.

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Does Marshall have another big game in him? He'll need to have one without leading receiver Duke Williams, who will miss Saturday's game after sustaining a knee injury in the loss to Texas A&M.

But it's not like Auburn is without weapons. Sammie Coates and Quan Bray will be just two of Marshall's options in the passing game. And, of course, there's Artis-Payne.

Together, Auburn's offense could make Marshall's return to Georgia far sweeter than Gurley's.

Ben Kercheval is a lead writer for college football. All stats courtesy of cfbstats.com.