The Fellow Who Locks the Back Door Is Out
Written by Jarvis Prime on October 17, 2026
GEORGIA MONEYBALL — Saturday, October 17, 2026
KJ Bolden is ruled out, so Georgia puts its last line of defense in new hands against an Auburn quarterback who would rather run than ask permission.
ALBANY, GA — · By the RFA Sports Desk
A house goes quiet in a particular way when the fellow who locks the back door every night calls in sick. Georgia got that news Friday. KJ Bolden, the safety, is officially out against Auburn with a right leg injury, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. He was questionable Wednesday and doubtful Thursday. By Friday the word had come the way bad news usually does in the South: slowly, then all at once, with a casserole nobody asked for.
The Journal-Constitution says Kyron Jones and Rasean Dinkins could play safety. That would leave Khalil Barnes where he has been, at the star spot. It is the sensible move. You don't tear up the kitchen because the man who fixes the sink is out. You slide the next fellow over and leave the cabinets alone. But a safety is the last man between a mistake and six points, and an understudy learns that job the way the rest of us learned to drive, which is in traffic.
A safety is the last man between a mistake and six points, and an understudy learns that job the way the rest of us learned to drive, which is in traffic.
Auburn's quarterback, Byrum Brown, is a runner first. At Tennessee he carried 19 times for 107 yards, and he also threw two interceptions and lost a fumble. A running quarterback tests the back end in an odd way. The safety has to come up and stay home at the same time, and he gets about a sneeze to decide which. Alex Golesh isn't selling anybody a bill of goods. When his team is not at its best, he told WVTM 13 this week, it is just good enough to get embarrassed.
The bookmakers have Georgia by nineteen and a half with a total of 49.5, and ESPN's FPI gives the Bulldogs a 90.5 percent chance. Our own Moneyball machine has no idea who Auburn is. It says Georgia 30, Auburn 20, a 73 percent win and only a 27 percent chance to cover. Call that a floor, not a pick. Covers took Georgia and the under and mentioned the wind. The forecast is sunny with a high of 67 and gusts up to 25, the kind of afternoon that is kind to a secondary missing a man.
Then there is last Saturday, which belongs on the locker-room wall. Oklahoma beat a No. 1 Texas team for the first time in 122 meetings. Kentucky beat LSU in overtime on an untouched two-point run. UCLA won at Oregon in a game with 10 turnovers, and South Carolina went to Gainesville and hung 38 on Florida. Kirby Smart has won 53 straight against unranked teams and nine straight over Auburn, counting the 2017 SEC Championship Game. Streaks like those are lovely right up until the afternoon they end.
The Notebook
- KICKOFF: Auburn at Georgia, 3:30 p.m. Eastern on ESPN from Sanford Stadium. Georgia leads the series 66-56-8.
- HOME COOKING: The Athens Banner-Herald notes Auburn hasn't scored more than 13 points at Georgia since 2009, and its Marc Weiszer calls it Georgia 37, Auburn 10.
- SAME WINDOW: Alabama is a 7.5-point favorite at Tennessee, also at 3:30, and Notre Dame is laying 10.5 at Provo tonight at 7:30.
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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