Fly War Eagle
Fansided

College Football Countdown: Ranking Difficulty of Each Auburn Opponent

By Jake Mastroianni

Nov 21, 2015; Auburn, AL, USA; Helicopters perform a flyover prior to the game between the Auburn Tigers and the Idaho Vandals at Jordan Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Shanna Lockwood-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 21, 2015; Auburn, AL, USA; Helicopters perform a flyover prior to the game between the Auburn Tigers and the Idaho Vandals at Jordan Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Shanna Lockwood-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
10 of 13
Next
college football
Sep 26, 2015; Athens, GA, USA; Georgia Bulldogs running back Nick Chubb (27) runs past the Georgia bench on his way to a touchdown against the Southern University Jaguars during the second half at Sanford Stadium. Georgia defeated Southern 48-6. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports /

4 – Georgia: Level 6

The Bulldogs are coming off a 10 win season, but they decided winning 10 games just about every year wasn’t good enough, so they essentially let Mark Richt go.

For some reason the expectations at Georgia are even higher with first year head coach Kirby Smart taking over. This isn’t just his first year as a head coach with Georgia, this is his first year as a head coach period.

More from Fly War Eagle

He has been around for a while and proven himself as a great assistant, but we’ll see if that translates into being a good head coach.

Georgia fans feel confident that they can win right away this year because they return two of the most talented running backs in the nation in Nick Chubb and Sony Michel. The two combined for 1,957 yards and 15 touchdowns a year ago. Chubb missed time with an injury, and Michel is already injured to start the season. If either of those backs goes down it could be a tough first year for Smart.

They have Greyson Lambert returning at quarterback after throwing for 1,959 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2015, but many are projecting freshman Jacob Eason will get the start at quarterback. Breaking in a new head coach and quarterback with two injury prone running backs sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.

Overall they have eight starters returning on offense after scoring 26.3 points per game last year – their lowest total in at least the past seven years.

They return six starters on defense for a unit that gave up just 16.9 points per game last year. However, they lose their top two tacklers from 2015 in Jake Ganus and Leonard Floyd. Both of those guys were the heart and soul of that defense last year.

They do return one of the best defensive backs in the conference in Dominic Sanders. The junior free safety had 4 tackles for a loss, 6 pass break ups and 6 interceptions last year.

Auburn is sandwiched in between a road game at Kentucky and a home game against UL Lafayette, so the Bulldogs will be ready for this rivalry matchup. Auburn is in a similar situation coming off a home game against Vanderbilt with a home matchup against Alabama A&M looming.

Georgia has the talent to be a really good team this year and win the SEC East, but I’m still not sure they’d be in the top four in the West. The more I think about it, the more I like Auburn’s chances in this game.

Chances of winning: 45 percent

Next: LSU

Home/Auburn Football