Auburn Football 2010: Preview of Chattanooga and Georgia Games

The Tigers have made it through the gauntlet of nine games in nine weeks that was supposed to destroy them. The away game at Mississippi was supposed to be the one where Auburn was so tired and beat up that they could not answer the bell. It seems someone missed in their analysis of that situation, though.

Auburn moves into the home stretch next week, beginning with Chattanooga for homecoming. The Moccasins are a perky team with a 5-3 record on the season and will provide some good resistance to warm the Tigers up for the final two SEC teams of the regular season.

Chattanooga is averaging 440 yards of offense and 32 points per game. They are primarily a passing team, and this is what Auburn can expect. Auburn will be able to get many freshmen a lot of experience in this one.

The next game up will be Georgia, and that is where this analysis will be focused. I know that it is one game at a time and stay focused every week for the team. I expect the team and staff shall do so.

The truth is that Chattanooga does not look good statistically, even though their statistics are from an FCS schedule. There is simply nothing to be gained by analyzing statistics that do not go against Auburn in any way.

The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry can be looked at in-depth this year. The two teams have faced four common opponents in conference play. Mississippi State, South Carolina, Arkansas and Kentucky do not just provide four common opponents; they provide a comparison of almost every type of offense in the SEC.

The only thing missing is a defense that uses three down linemen. This is the type of defensive set that Auburn has been most effective against. It is also the type of defensive set Georgia uses for their primary defense.

Following is a comparison of common opponents:

Common Opponent	Statistic	Georgia	Auburn
Mississippi State	Passing Offense	274 yards	158 yards
	Rushing Offense	113 yards	190 yards
	Total Offense	387 yards	348 yards
	Yards Per Play	6 yards	5 yards
	Scoring Offense	12 points	17 points
	Scoring Defense	24 points	14 points
	Pass Defense	148 yards	129 yards
	Rush Defense	166 yards	117 yards
	Total Defense	314 yards	246 yards
South Carolina	Passing Offense	192 yards	158 yards
	Rushing Offense	61 yards	334 yards
	Total Offense	253 yards	492 yards
	Yards Per Play	5 yards	6 yards
	Scoring Offense	6 points	35 points
	Scoring Defense	17 points	27 points
	Pass Defense	165 yards	305 yards
	Rush Defense	189 yards	79 yards
	Total Defense	354 yards	384 yards
Kentucky	Passing Offense	113 yards	210 yards
	Rushing Offense	177 yards	311 yards
	Total Offense	290 yards	521 yards
	Yards Per Play	6 yards	7 yards
	Scoring Offense	44 points	37 points
	Scoring Defense	31 points	34 points
	Pass Defense	353 yards	226 yards
	Rush Defense	70 yards	110 yards
	Total Defense	423 yards	336 yards
Arkansas	Passing Offense	253 yards	140 yards
	Rushing Offense	139 yards	330 yards
	Total Offense	392 yards	470 yards
	Yards Per Play	6 yards	7 yards
	Scoring Offense	24 points	65 points
	Scoring Defense	31 points	43 points
	Pass Defense	380 yards	428 yards
	Rush Defense	53 yards	138 yards
	Total Defense	433 yards	566 yards
Common Opponent Totals	Passing Offense	832 yards	666 yards
	Rushing Offense	490 yards	1165 yards
	Total Offense	1322 yards	1831 yards
	Scoring Offense	86 points	154 points
	Scoring Defense	103 points	118 points
	Pass Defense	1046 yards	1088 yards
	Rush Defense	478 yards	444 yards
	Total Defense	1524 yards	1532 yards
Average Per Game	Passing Offense	208 yards	166,5 yards
	Rushing Offense	122.5 yards	291.25 yards
	Total Offense	330.5 yards	457.75 yards
	Scoring Offense	21.5 points	38.5 points
	Scoring Defense	25.75 points	29.4 points
	Pass Defense	261.5 yards	272 yards
	Rush Defense	119.5 points	111 yards
	Total Defense	381 yards	383 yards

Auburn significantly outperformed Georgia in every common-opponent game so far. The two defenses have performed eerily similar over the span of the four games. The two passing offenses are performing similarly, with the Auburn rushing offense having been considerably more effective.

This could be looked at as an unfair comparison for Georgia, but it is fairly representative of the team. Georgia only averaged 413 yards per game of offense in their three SEC wins while allowing 292 yards on defense. While the defensive improvement is certainly attributable to the quality of the offensive opponent, the Georgia offense was quite consistent.  

Georgia gave up 450 yards to an awkward Florida offense that was running a tempo offense similar to Auburn’s for the first time this week. Georgia did gain 472 yards of offense themselves this week. They scored 31 points in that effort.

There is no hidden aspect in this game analysis. Florida just rushed for 219 yards against this Georgia defense. They were also able to pass effectively, even though Georgia knew a pass play was coming from simply looking at which quarterback was in the game.

The two teams are actually tied in turnover margin. This statistic tells us nothing about this game. The game shouldn't be riddled with turnovers.

It really comes down to the Georgia offense versus the Auburn defense, where Georgia might have a small edge, and the Auburn offense versus the Georgia defense, where Auburn has a huge advantage.

History tells us that this is usually a close, hard-fought contest. Georgia will need some help from the Auburn team to make it that way this year.