Scott Van Pelt dished out his picks for the top games of Week 7, and one of those games is a traditional SEC rivalry that’s older than any other in the conference’s history.
They call the annual clash between Auburn and Georgia the “Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry” for a reason, and on Saturday night on the Plains the 2 programs will get it on for the 130th time. It’ll be a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff on ABC, so the matchup will have the biggest stage possible, as the 10th-ranked Bulldogs (4-1, 2-1 SEC) try to keep distancing themselves from that home loss to Alabama a few weeks ago.
Meanwhile, Auburn (3-2, 0-2 SEC) will be trying to make a big statement at home after back-to-back road losses to Oklahoma and Texas A&M. The Tigers are coming off a bye, so they’re rested, and Van Pelt believes that Hugh Freeze‘s team will put its best foot forward and at the very least make Georgia sweat it out on the road. Van Pelt is picking Auburn +3.5 points.
“Auburn’s back home on the loveliest village of the Plains after a pair of rugged road losses. I’m not sure how, but somehow, Auburn stays within the number at night in Jordan-Hare,” Van Pelt said.
Van Pelt has historically done well when going with Auburn in his picks segment. Per ESPN, he is 11-5-1 against the spread when picking Auburn during his weekly ‘Winners’ segment.
Georgia has the historical lead in the grand old rivalry, going 65-56-8 against Auburn in a rivalry that began way back in 1892 with a 10-0 Auburn victory.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
