Nine Straight, and Auburn Still Gets a Vote
Written by Jarvis Prime on October 17, 2026
The oldest rivalry in the Deep South comes back to Athens this afternoon. One side is No. 1 in the country and the other is trying to find out who it is.
Georgia is 6-0 and 4-0 in the SEC, ranked first in both the AP and Coaches polls after last week’s 20-17 escape from Tuscaloosa. Auburn is 3-2 in Alex Golesh’s first season, coming off an open date. The Tigers beat Baylor by a point and Vanderbilt by six, lost a 44-39 shootout to Florida and lost 24-14 at Tennessee. Kickoff is 3:30 Eastern on ESPN, and the folks who set the numbers have Georgia by 19 and a half.
Nine straight, if you’re counting the way we count
Georgia has won nine in a row over Auburn, counting the 2017 SEC Championship Game. That was the afternoon in Atlanta that settled the score from a loss on the Plains three weeks earlier. Kirby Smart is 10-1 against Auburn, and Georgia paid back his one loss inside a month. The series goes back to 1892. Georgia leads it 66-56-8, which means the two schools have spent more than a century arguing and still haven’t finished.
Last year’s meeting is the one to remember if you’re inclined to get comfortable. Georgia trailed 10-3 at halftime on the Plains and came home a 20-10 winner. Smart called this year’s Tigers “a really tough, physical football team on both sides of the ball.” He said Golesh is “doing a great job coming in and taking over the program.”
What Auburn brings, and what it doesn’t
Auburn’s offense runs through quarterback Byrum Brown, a South Florida transfer who would rather run than throw. At Tennessee he carried 19 times for 107 yards and turned it over three times, two interceptions and a fumble. A quarterback like that keeps a defense honest for three quarters and keeps his own coach up at night for the fourth.
The Tigers will play without their best linebacker. Golesh ruled out Xavier Atkins on Monday for reasons the program is keeping “in-house.” Atkins had 37 tackles, three sacks and an interception this year after 84 tackles and nine sacks last season. De’Marcus Riddick, back from a shoulder injury that ended his 2025, is expected to take a bigger share. Auburn also listed offensive lineman Tai Buster and tight end Hunter Herring as out.
Georgia’s backfield, by subtraction
Georgia’s injury report has been longer than its patience. Chauncey Bowens, Isiah Canion, Thomas Blackshear, Amaris Williams and Tyriq Green are all out. All-American safety KJ Bolden went from questionable on Wednesday to doubtful on Thursday, and Friday’s report ruled him out with a right-leg injury. Kyron Jones and Rasean Dinkins are the likeliest answers at safety.
The good news is Nate Frazier. He has stayed off the report all week after warming up at Alabama and not playing with a rib injury. If he goes, the question is how much. Dwight Phillips Jr. carried the load in Tuscaloosa, 17 times for a career-high 120 yards, and Georgia ran for 206 as a team. Whoever lines up behind Gunner Stockton this afternoon has a standard to meet.
What the numbers say
Moneyball’s simulation, run 100,000 times, comes out Georgia 30, Auburn 20. Georgia wins 73 percent of the time but covers the 19 and a half only 27 percent of the time. Take that as a floor, not a pick. The model doesn’t weigh who a team has played, and Georgia’s averages include blowouts of Tennessee State and Western Kentucky. ESPN’s predictor, which does weigh it, gives Georgia a 90.5 percent chance. The total sits at 49.5.
The weather won’t be an excuse for anybody: sunny, upper 60s, a north wind of 10 to 15 miles an hour. After last week’s hurricane watch in Tuscaloosa, that’s practically a gift.
Georgia should win this game, and the numbers agree. Auburn needs Brown to make plays nobody planned for and a Georgia turnover or two at the wrong time. It has happened before in this series. It just hasn’t happened in nine years.
Go Dawgs.
— The RFA Sports Desk
Sources
- Georgia injury report vs. Auburn — 247Sports
- Initial availability report — 247Sports
- KJ Bolden downgraded — On3
- SEC availability report — Yahoo Sports
- Smart on Auburn, Monday press conference — DawgNation
- Atkins unavailable vs. Georgia — ESPN
- Auburn at Tennessee recap — ESPN
- Georgia 20, Alabama 17 — U.S. News/AP
- Deep South's Oldest Rivalry — Wikipedia
- Odds and ESPN predictor — ESPN game summary
- Georgia injury report: KJ Bolden unavailable for Auburn matchup — AJC
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