Welcome to the Morning Five, where we put numbers to the week’s football news to give it a whole new sound. Like the cowbell part on Don’t Fear the Reaper, it really makes the whole song work. Let’s get to it:
#1…..12. That’s where Georgia ranks in the 16 team SEC in turnover margin after Saturday’s four turnover performance against Alabama. The Dawgs of course had been tops in the SEC in turnover margin through three games because they hadn’t turned the ball over once. It’s almost a cliche, but most cliches begin with a kernel of truth: the team that wins the turnover battle usually wins the game. And if Georgia had been a little less awful in the turnover department that game might have turned out differently. But also, if my Aunt Edwina drank Bud heavies while listening to Finebaum after her shift at the paper mill she’d be my Uncle Eddie. Still could be worse….
#2…..16. That’s where Auburn ranks in SEC turnover margin. Stone cold, rock bottom dead last. And unlike the Red and Black, who can claim momentary insanity based on one bad game against a tough opponent, the Plainsmen have been uniformly dreadful in the turnover department. Through five games the Tigers have yet to have a positive turnover differential in a game. The closest they’ve come was a week three win over New Mexico in which two Tiger fumbles were balanced by two Lobo interceptions. The boys from Hugh Freeze’s School for Slipshod Cellphone Usage have yet to recover a single fumble on the season. That’s a bit improbable. Still, repeat after me, turnover luck is at least partially random. Teams tend to revert to the mean over time on that statistic, so it’s entirely possible that the guys from the Opelika School for Wayward Boys eventually play one where the ball bounces their way. Let’s just hope it isn’t this Saturday.
#3…..1163. That’s the total yards for Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne this season (1038 through the air and 125 on the ground). The thing is, as Georgia fans saw to some extent last year, Thorne can move the ball. He’s thrown 10 touchdown passes on the season, the same number as Carson Beck. However he’s also thrown 6 interceptions, some of which have been absolute back breakers. I’m not trying to be alarmist here, but there is very much a world in which Georgia gives up over 400 yards of total offense in this game and feels like they’ve been run up and down the field. There’s also a world in which Auburn descends into total chaos offensively. Inside Hugh Freeze there are two wolves, and neither one should be allowed access to a cell phone.
#4…..6.72. That’s how many yards per carry Auburn tailback Jarquez Hunter is averaging this season. Hunter remains one of the more underappreciated backs in college football, and only needs 83 more yards rushing to pass Ronnie Brown and move into the top ten all-time at Auburn in rushing yards. Considering that top ten includes the likes of Bo Jackson, Joe Cribbs, James Brooks, and Cadillac Williams, it’s a very real accomplishment. Hunter runs with great vision, but his biggest asset is a powerful lower body that makes tacklers bounce off of him and requires you to tackle him all the way to the ground. The Bulldog defense is going to have to tackle much, much better than last week to keep him from having a big afternoon.
#5….7. That’s Georgia’s current win streak over the gang from Pat Dye’s Academy of Remedial Manure Logistics. It’s the second longest winning streak in the rivalry for either team, eclipsed only by Georgia’s nine game win streak over Auburn from 1923 to 1931. This game will be a good barometer of whether this Auburn squad is fighting for the coaching staff or has given up. Beating Georgia to break that streak is the kind of win that could buy Hugh Freeze some time to get things straightened out on the Plains. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Until later…
Go ‘Dawgs!!!