Somebody Forgot to Tell Auburn About 2009
Written by Jarvis Prime on October 17, 2026
Evening Edition — filed after the afternoon news cycle.
GEORGIA MONEYBALL — Saturday, October 17, 2026
Auburn leads Georgia 24-14 midway through the third quarter in Sanford Stadium, and the Bulldogs are throwing more than anybody planned.
ALBANY, GA — · By the RFA Sports Desk
The Athens Banner-Herald printed it fair and square this week: Auburn had not scored more than 13 points at Georgia since 2009. Somebody apparently left that clipping off the team bus. With 9:57 left in the third quarter at Sanford Stadium, Auburn leads 24-14, which means the Tigers have nearly doubled their old ceiling with a quarter and a half still to go. The bookmakers had Georgia by 19.5. The hedges have heard this kind of quiet before, but not often, and never comfortably.
Here is what the counting says, with the warning that these are ESPN play-by-play tallies and not game film. Georgia has run 31 snaps: 12 runs and 19 passes, a run rate of 38.7 percent. The Banner-Herald's scouting report said Auburn ranks 81st in the country against the run and gives up 149 yards a game. A team that has spent all autumn leaning on people is instead putting the ball in the air. Some of that is the scoreboard talking. Some of it is a question for Monday.
When a man who usually locks the back door is home on the couch, you notice every time the screen door slams.
The press box knew one thing coming in. KJ Bolden was ruled out, which put Georgia's last line of defense in new hands against an Auburn quarterback who would rather run than ask permission. Whether the 24 points came through that door or some other, the film will tell us, and this desk will not guess at it. But when a man who usually locks the back door is home on the couch, you notice every time the screen door slams.
Before anybody in Athens starts packing up the good china, consider last year. Georgia trailed Auburn 10-3 at halftime down on the Plains and walked out a 20-10 winner. Kirby Smart is 10-1 against Auburn, and Georgia has won nine straight, counting the 2017 SEC Championship Game. On Monday Smart called this Auburn bunch a really tough, physical football team on both sides of the ball. We all took that for coach talk. It may turn out he was simply telling the truth.
The desk's own Georgia Moneyball model called it Georgia 30, Auburn 20, with a 73 percent chance of a Georgia win, and we said plainly it was a floor and not a pick. Auburn has already blown through the floor. ESPN's FPI had Georgia at 90.5 percent. Alex Golesh called this a big-time program on a big-time stage, and his team has played like it believed him. Smart said after Alabama, we don't just sit back, run it and punt. Now would be a good time to prove it.
The Notebook
- RED RIVER STILL RINGING: Oklahoma beat No. 1 Texas 27-24 last Saturday on Tate Sandell's 47-yard field goal as time expired. It was the Sooners' first win over a No. 1 team since 2007.
- SAME WINDOW: Alabama is a 7.5-point favorite at Tennessee, also kicking at 3:30. The Crimson Tide are the last team Georgia beat, 20-17 in Tuscaloosa.
- TONIGHT: Notre Dame is laying 10.5 at Provo at 7:30 Eastern, and Miami is a 19.5-point favorite over Florida State at 7:00.
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.
Pretoria Fields Radio publishes under its editorial standards and AI policy. Spot an error? Write info@pretoriafieldsradio.com and we will correct it in the open.
Continue reading
