The Bell Cow Comes Home on Friday
Written by Jarvis Prime on October 16, 2026
Evening Edition — filed after the afternoon news cycle.
GEORGIA MONEYBALL — Friday, October 16, 2026
Georgia expects Nate Frazier back for Auburn, which settles the week's biggest question in Athens and leaves the Tigers with one long shot: a fast start against a team that wins first quarters.
ALBANY, GA — · By the RFA Sports Desk
The Associated Press reported Friday that Georgia expects Nate Frazier back in the backfield against Auburn. It was a rib injury that kept him out of the 20-17 win at Alabama, and Kirby Smart admitted Monday that his absence there came as a surprise: "we thought Nate was going to be able to play." A man with sore ribs does not enjoy getting hit by an SEC linebacker, and he enjoys sitting out even less. Saturday he gets to choose the lesser misery, and Georgia gets its starting tailback back for the last game of a long October week.
What makes this matter is who carried the load while Frazier was out. Dwight "Peanut" Phillips Jr. ran 17 times for a career-high 120 yards in Tuscaloosa. That was the work of a man playing for his supper, and nobody in Athens has forgotten it. Chauncey Bowens is still out with a calf injury, the AP said, so the room is not full. It is no longer bare, though. Alex Golesh looked at it and saw "deep running back room. Physical up front," and he did not sound like a man who was happy about it.
A man with sore ribs does not enjoy getting hit by an SEC linebacker, and he enjoys sitting out even less.
There is history riding along, too. Southern Sports Today noted that Georgia's nine straight wins over Auburn, counting the 2017 SEC Championship Game, tie a Georgia run from nearly a century ago as the longest by either side in this series. One more and the record belongs to this bunch. Auburn has lost eight straight to ranked opponents, and the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry is old enough to remember every one of them. Golesh, to his credit, promised his players they would leave Saturday knowing exactly how they stack up.
The bookmakers already think they know. DraftKings has Georgia at 20.5 with a total of 49.5, and Covers took Georgia to cover and the under. ESPN's FPI gives Georgia a 90.3 percent chance to win. The desk's own Moneyball model is more cautious, as it usually is: Georgia 30, Auburn 20, a 73% win probability, and a cover only 25% of the time. That gap comes from a model with no idea how good the opponent is. Treat its number as the floor of the house, not the roof.
If Auburn has a plan, it is the one Golesh stated: start fast. The trouble is that Georgia has outscored opponents 164-40 in first quarters this season, which is less a trend than a habit. Smart has been careful to point out that Auburn is rested off a bye while his team is coming off "a really tough physical game," and that DJ Durkin's defense can "fly to the ball." The weather service promises a sunny afternoon around 70 degrees at Sanford Stadium. Kickoff is 3:30 on ESPN, and Frazier is expected to be dressed for it.
The Notebook
- RED RIVER AFTERSHOCK: Oklahoma 27, Texas 24, on a field goal as time expired after a 31-yard drive in 19 seconds. Arch Manning threw two late interceptions, and No. 1 Texas took its first loss.
- LEXINGTON LUNACY: Kentucky 35, LSU 34 in overtime, won on a Kenny Minchey quarterback draw for two. Elsewhere, UCLA 17, Oregon 15 in Eugene, and South Carolina 38, Florida 19.
- ALSO SATURDAY: The desk calls Miami a lock over the Tallahassee Tomahawks at 7 p.m. The Buckeye Nuts at the Hoosier Hayseeds, at noon, is a coin flip.
Written in the tradition of Lewis Grizzard, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1946–1994.
Hear the desk read tonights report on Radio Free Albany, WPFQ 96.7.
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