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Kirby Smart has a lot of respect for Auburn’s offense ahead of Georgia’s matchup with the Tigers in Week 6.
Smart met with reporters on Tuesday night and spoke about the upcoming meeting with Auburn. He made sure to point out that although Auburn’s offense hasn’t produced a lot points so far in 2024, it hasn’t been from a lack of ability to move the ball.
Instead, Auburn’s offense has been severely limited by turnovers.
“They’re not getting stopped,” Smart said. “They’re turning the ball over … A lot of respect for the physicality they play with and how they’ve played. Sometimes it’s hard to control turnovers.”
The numbers generally back up what Smart is saying. Auburn ranks 10th in the SEC in points per game but third in yards per play. The issue has been turnover margin — the Tigers are -11 in that department, which is nearly triple the next-closest SEC team (Florida at -4).
Advanced stats also show Auburn has been unlucky to start the year. According to GameOnPaper, Auburn’s offense ranks 27th nationally in success rate and 6th nationally in yards per play. Those numbers would seem to indicate that Auburn will comfortably have a top-30 offense in the country if it can get its turnover issues in-check.
Georgia is a 24.5-point favorite over Auburn this weekend in Athens, according to the latest lines from bet365.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
