AUBURN, Ala (EETV) - After a win against Ole Miss, the Tigers have a bye week to prepare for the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry that will be Saturday, Nov. 16 in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
The Tigers pulled out a win against Ole Miss in week 10, but that win did not come easy. Although the Tigers had 507 total yards, with Bo Nix having 340 passing yards, Auburn struggled to finish offensively and get points on the board. Kicker Anders Carlson missed three field goals (went 2/5), which was nine points the Tigers could have had.
Going into the bye week with a tough Georgia matchup a week away, Auburn Head Coach Gus Malzahn says, “We spend half the time probably preparing for them, half the time cleaning up and trying to be sharp with things.”
The Tigers will also use this week as a time to heal since key players like JaTarvious Whitlow(knee), Marlon Davidson(back) and Jeremiah Dinson(virus) were out against Ole Miss. “At the same time, healing up has been a big priority, too, for a lot of our top guys,” Malzahn said, “It's been a very physical stretch. So we're healing those guys up.”
Whitlow had knee surgery the week after the Auburn-Florida game and has been working to get back to 100 percent. He played against LSU but not Ole Miss, and Malzahn is hoping for him to play against Georgia. Malzahn said, “Whitlow is practicing with a knee brace and everything that goes with it. Our goal is that he’ll be back 100 percent before we play Georgia. So we’ll continue to strive for that.”
Quarterback Bo Nix continues to grow and improve, as he threw for 340 yards against Ole Miss and had a rushing touchdown. Malzahn believes, “Really felt like he played his best game, so that was good.” Nix commented on the upcoming matchup against Georgia saying, “A win going into a bye week, with the tough schedule that we've had, that's really good.”
Safety Daniel Thomas also commented on the tough game ahead, “I'm looking forward to it. Focus on us this week and continue to build strong as a team."
The No. 11 Auburn Tigers will play the No. 6 Georgia Bulldogs Saturday, Nov. 16. This matchup, nicknamed The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry, will kick off at 2:30 p.m. CT and can be found on CBS.
