Georgia football Robby Ashford Auburn quarterback

AUBURN, Ala. —Auburn football will enter into Sanford Stadium facing long odds, a 30-point underdog to the No. 2-ranked team in the nation.

Tigers’ coach Bryan Harsin is a long shot of sorts, himself.

The clock is ticking on Harsin’s days as an SEC head football amid the wild and unpredictable jungle of Auburn boosters, influencers, and a few passionate media members.

But for 60 minutes on Saturday, Harsin and his ring of Tigers control their own narrative against the Georgia Bulldogs in the 3:30 p.m. (TV: CBS) kickoff.

Mental prep

“You have to prepare for the mental side of it,” said Harsin, who was 69-19 at Boise State before taking over an upside-down Auburn program amid COVID recruiting restrictions.

“Your locker room isn’t the same, it’s small, it’s tight, and it’s tough to have to take a road trip,” the second-year Tigers’ coach said. “We’re bussing (three hours) to Athens.”

Auburn’s upset hopes rest on the arm of redshirt freshman quarterback Robby Ashford, who will be making his third career start and first in a road environment.

“He’s a wild card,” said Smart, who once recruited the teammate of former UGA star George Pickens out of Hoover, Ala., High School.

“He’s gotten better each week as a passer and in decision making .. converted more and more third downs with his arm, and he’s never not going to have his legs — his legs are incredible, as far as making plays with his feet.”

QB Comparison

A side-by-side of Ashford and Georgia sixth-year QB Stetson Bennett the past two games is revealing:

Ashford is 31-of-56 for 464 yards with 2 TD passes, 1 interception, 5 sacks and 65 yards rushing in games with Missouri and LSU.

Bennett is 51-of-79 for 584 yards with 0 TD passes, 1 interception, 3 sacks and 11 yards rushing in games with Missouri and Kent State.

VIDEO: Kirby’s poise key with young team amid Stetson Bennett struggles

Clearly, one would think Auburn will need to rely more heavily on a ground attack that features Tank Bigbsy (326 yards rushing), Ashford (223 yards) and Jarquez Hunter (139 yards).

“We think probably two of the best backs in the SEC are there together — the Hunter kid is strong and physical,” Smart said. “When you chart the number of broken tackles those two guys have had together, it’s as much as anybody in our conference. You package that with a quarterback who is super fast and really elite, you’ve got three.

“Tackling is going to be a premium in this game because they’re big, physical guys, including the quarterback, who you have to wrap up and knock back tackle.”

Baffled Bayou Bengals

That’s what Brian Kelly thought last week when he took his heavily favored Bayou Bengals to The Plains for a night game.

“We came into that game with this sense of, you better stop the run, and they flipped the script on us and attacked us throwing the football,” said Kelly, whose LSU football team fell behind Auburn 17-0 before rallying for a 21-17 victory.

“That was a smart game plan, and he completed his passes.”

Notre Dame’s all-time winningest coach doesn’t get out-schemed often.

Indeed, Kelly’s Irish would have likely pulled an upset win over Georgia in 2019, if not for a clamorous Sanford Stadium crowd hyped up on new red lights and a Top 5 ranking triggering six motion penalties.

But in his most successful outing to date, Ashford found ways to exploit a well-trained LSU secondary.

“He breaks down the defense,” Kelly explained. “He got outside, scrambled,and we did not stay in coverage.

“The big touchdown they ran a simple arrow route and we didn’t stay in coverage and he found it.”

Georgia elite

Smart’s Georgia secondary ranks among the elite — No. 12 in the nation in pass efficiency defense — and will not likely have that same sort of breakdowns in coverage.

But Smart has voiced concern about the tackling, pointing out that the linebackers have more on their plates with defensive line play not as dominant as a season ago with three first-round picks.

Ashford’s ability to run the ball has the Georgia head coach consumed.

“That’s a young man we recruited and came over and visited us several times, he is a tremendous athlete,” Smart said.

“You see it on tape, he is really special in terms of twitch, being elusive,” Smart said. “His best plays sometimes are plays that end up being broken plays. The guy can take off and really hurt you, beat with you his arm, especially on scrambles.”

Harsin’s last gasp

Could what would be a monumental upset win over Georgia save Harsin’s job?

Probably not, but that’s not where the Auburn head coach’s mind is at.

The focus for Harsin is on his team and doing all he can to prepare Ashford for the greatest football challenge of his young collegiate career.

Harsin, who has mentored several successful quarterbacks, including NCAA all-time wins leader Kellen Moore, is proud of the progress Ashford has made in his minimal time as starter.

“I’ve seen him grow in his ability to operate the offense and understand what we’re trying to do,” Harsin said this week.

“We did throw the ball in moments of the game well, and there’s still plenty of things to work on from what we are doing offensively, to how we are executing it,” he said.

“(Ashford) showed some toughness His athletic ability gives us an opportunity to have an advantage.”

It might not be much of an opportunity — perhaps only a puncher’s chance against a heavyweight program like Smart has built at Georgia.

But it’s something for Harsin and the Tigers to hold on to, a ray of hope to consider on their long bus ride up Interstate 85 on Friday.