Gus Malzahn on facing reduced Georgia crowd: 'I do expect it to be loud'
The Auburn-Georgia rivalry has seen plenty over the years, so a reduced crowd at Sanford Stadium is just the latest wrinkle to the “Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.”
That’s why Auburn coach Gus Malzahn expects a hostile environment at Georgia even though the number of fans will be a far cry from the normal 92,000
“It’s a unique year; I think everybody is learning as they go,” Malzahn said at his Tuesday press conference. “I do expect it loud over there and we’ll to be able to adjust to that. Each week, teams will learn; this will be our first road game. We were able to have a home game and I think our crowd did a really good job, like I talked about after the game. We expect it to be loud and we’ll learn after this first road game.”
The game is typically played in November, but Malzahn chalked up the earlier year to just another thing to deal with in 2020.
“It feels exactly as it would in November,” Malzahn said. “We know how important it is. This game usually has a direct effect on the east and the west. It doesn’t matter if we’re playing today or in November or in March.”
Georgia has won 3 straight in the series, and 6 of the last 8. Auburn’s last win in Athens came in 2005.
“First of all, I think that’s one of the toughest places to play in the league,” Malzahn said. “That’s just the facts of the matter. You have to play good football to have a chance to win. Then if it’s a close game, you have to find a way to make those plays to win. Like I said earlier, we’ll see about the crowd, but I do expect it to be loud. We’ll know more after the game as far as if it’s the same or not.”
And there is plenty of reason to digest why it’s a special rivalry for Malzahn.
“Well, I mean, you know it’s the oldest rivalry in the South, first of all,” he said. “We recruit the state; I think a third of our team is from the state of Georgia. You can look at it since I’ve been at Auburn, it’s always been very, very important and the winner’s usually went on to do real well. So, it’s a big one.”
I’ve got a bad feeling about this one.
I’m sure you do. Didn’t you have a bad feeling last week as well? If you say it every week sooner or later you’ll be right.
Gus really thinks it could be similar to as loud as 92,000. Come one now Gus. One of the announcers for the UT v SC game, taylor Zarzour kept saying you couldnt tell there were only 17000 fans there it was so loud. I assume thats just an announcer trying to insert soemthing to make the game sound more exciting and couldnt tell from TV. I think even the Tv provided artificial noise but I never saw the vols players seem like they had any trouble with noise. Did anyone who attended any game last saturday think the noise was close to a capacity crowd or that it was enough to impact the game they saw? Just curious.
UGA has won 12 of the last 15.
Auburn won in 2010 with Cam, 2013 when they went to national title game, and 2017. All three 1) were home games for Auburn 2) Auburn won the West. Two of those years they were in the national title game and in 2017 they would have been in the playoffs (probably) if they win the SECCG. Essentially, they were really good those years.
Auburn certainly can win this weekend but outside of 2010 and 2013 Auburn is much closer to an 8 win team the last 15 years. They consistently lose to their biggest rivals:
3-10 vs LSU
3-12 vs UGA
4-8 vs Alabama, which is probably the biggest surprise.
They certainly are a good team most years, capable of winning this Saturday, and not to be overlooked. But, and this is coming from an UGA fan, they are consistently overrated. UGA doesn’t have the 1 recent title Auburn has but they are more consistent and consistently better.
Let’s see what happens Saturday though. I, like most, expect a fairly low scoring game.
UGA winning 12 of the last 15 has no bearing on the game this weekend. I expect UGA to play extremely well and have no idea what could happen, but disagree with the sentiment of your post. Yes, Auburn is a much more volatile program than UGA (with two great years the last decade, two terrible years, and a litany of average years), but outside of a few games, Auburn/UGA tends to be pretty close, no matter who wins. Last year was no exception. There are a ton of question marks on both sides this year, and I hope Auburn can capitalize on their strengths and the craziness of this year to get a win. For what it’s worth, UGA would be closer to an eight-win team, as well, if they had to play Bama and LSU every year (true more so under Mark Richt than under Kirby, perhaps, though Kirby has yet to beat Bama or LSU at UGA). It’s tough playing in the West. That’s not meant to disparage UGA. Nothing but respect for what Kirby has been able to do there. I think a low-scoring game is probably coming, as well. Will be interesting to see who trots out at QB for UGA and whether Auburn can get any type of running game going. Whatever the case, I think we can expect a hard-fought game and perhaps some key questions being answered on both sides. War Eagle.
All good points
Not to knit pick but if we want to look at 12 of the last 15 then let’s look at Auburn being 4 of 5 with both teams being in the Top 10. This will be the 6th meeting as a Top 10 matchup.
Anyone can use stats to make things look grim for the other. At the end of the day no one knows how this will play out being so early in the year, being the first meeting since 1938 that this rivalry has played before November. So best of luck UGA, Auburns coming and I expect it to be a good, VERY close game. Predicting 13-10 Auburn
well, I think we would lend a BIT more credence to games in the last decade, which implies a trend, versus a historical record with a list of criteria i.e. both in the top 10.
Of course, no past game directly impacts the upcoming game but I will “nitpick” and say some stats matter more than others.
I don’t mind the game being this early. Should be fun and stressful. I’ll go with 20-14, UGA wins.
Close
Here’s a crazy stat:
Auburn hasn’t scored an offensive touchdown after the 1st quarter in Sanford Stadium since 2007.
I did not know that. Might continue with that streak, regardless of the outcome. I did read they have not won in Athens since 2005.
I do hate long streaks like that because they are bound to end
I wholeheartedly believe that streak will end this weekend. I honestly have no idea how the game will turn out but I do expect Bo+Seth will eek out at least 1 td in the second half. even if it’s the only points we score all game.