ATHENS —Georgia coach Kirby Smart said again this week that the Bulldogs are “very much a work in progress,” but he likes the direction they are heading.
Georgia looks to keep its College Football Playoff hopes alive when it plays host to Auburn on Saturday in a game Smart said his players are focused in on.
“They are a mature group, they understand we have tough opponents every week, the road we have left, we all know what’s ahead,” Smart said on The Paul Finebaum Show this week.
“Auburn is all we think about, and we really think about getting better, it’s not always about Auburn, but can we get this player better and this play better, and can they grow and maybe help us in the next game.”
Smart said he’ll continue to substitute several young players on defense, as he did in Georgia’s 34-17 win at Kentucky last Saturday.
“We’re growing up and getting better, we were able to play a lot of younger guys in the last game, we kind of bit the bullet and said we got to get them in there, the only way they’ll get better is if they play,” Smart said. “We’re going to continue to do that, we’re very young defensively and we had some banged up defensive linemen, but we lost a lot of good players, and you’ve got to replace those guys.”
Georgia football-Auburn details
• Time: The game kicks off at 7 p.m. ET Saturday • Date: Nov. 10, 2018 • Location: Sanford Stadium, Athens
• Weather forecast: Mostly sunny, a high of 57 and a low of 32, kickoff temperature expected to be 43 degrees, and a “Freeze Watch” is in effect from 9 p.m. until 10 a.m. on Sunday.
DawgNation Georgia football coverage
• Follow: DawgNation beat writers Mike Griffith @MikeGriffith32 and Chip Towers @ChipTowersDN on Twitter.
• Watch: Brandon Adams and Jeff Sentell on the postgame show via DawgNation Facebook page.
How to watch Georgia-Auburn on TV
The Georgia-Auburn game will be televised on ESPN. Sean McDonough will handle the play-by-play call, Todd Blackledge will provide analysis. Holly Rowe is the sideline reporter.
How to stream Georgia-Auburn football
The game can be streamed online at GTV on georgiadogs.com.
Where to find Georgia-Auburn on radio
The game will be broadcast on WSB 95.5 FM, 750 AM, along with other Georgia Bulldog Sport Network (IMG) radio affiliates. Scott Howard is on the play-by-play call, Eric Zeier is the color analyst, and Chuck Dowdle is the sideline reporter.
Satellite radio for Georgia football vs. Auburn
The game will be broadcast on Sirius channel 98 and XM channel 191 (Georgia broadcast).
Georgia-Kentucky football game notes
• The Tigers are 13th nationally in scoring defense, allowing 17.3 points per game
• Georgia leads the “Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry” series 58-56-8.
• Georgia and Auburn split their games last season; The Tigers won 40-17 in Auburn during the regular season, and the Bulldogs won 28-7 in the SEC Championship Game.
• Auburn leads the series in games played in Athens, 18-14
• The Bulldogs remain on pace to set a single-season record for scoring, averaging 38.1 points per game. The 2012 UGA team set the record with 37.8.
• Jake Fromm has a 67.7 completion percentage, good for second in the SEC and just off the single-season record pace set by Hunter Mason in 2014 (67.9). Former Kentucky QB Tim Couch holds the league record (72.3, 1998).
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