Smart weighs in on No. 14 Auburn

Georgia coach Kirby Smart met with the media Monday afternoon to discuss the upcoming matchup with rival Auburn.

Georgia, N o . 1 in the initial College Foot- ball Playoff Rankings and No. 2 in the latest Associated Press poll, is seeking its fourth consecutive win over No. 14 Auburn.

Here’s what Smart said about the Tigers:

Opening statement: “Today we begin our prepa- ration for what I believe is a fantastic Auburn team. Very physical upfront: offensive line, defensive line. They have backs playing at a really high level. They have a quar- terback that has an extremely strong arm and does a tremendous job throwing the ball vertical down field . ... They’ve always been good at special teams under (coach) Gus (Malzahn). And they’ve got a good all-around foot- ball. Obviously the environ- ment, I’ve played over there a lot throughout my coach- ing career, they do a really good job creating the envi- ronment. So the challenges are in front of us. We’ll find out a lot about this team, playing on the road in a tough place to play against a really good football team.”

Auburn’s offensive line: “By far (the best since Notre Dame). It’s the combination: Not just the O-line, it’s the quarterback ( Jarrett Stidham), who can put them in the right play, makes good decisions, great arm talent. The back (Kerryon Johnson), which you have to tackle, he’s running wild on peo- ple. He’ll bounce out, he’ll hit it up inside. Runs with great toughness, physical. I’ve seen this kid grow for a long time. Watched him play when he was in high school. He’s become a really, really good back and they do a good job using his strengths. And the fullback doesn’t get much credit. Chandler Cox, he does a great job blocking for them. And they’ve got more speed at wideout this year than they’ve had in the past. And I actually think they’ve needed to use it because of the quarterback and his strengths. So the combination of that plus the offensive line, it’s really the recipe for what they want, which I think indicates their offensive numbers.”

Auburn pass protection: “When you watch that (Clemson) game, they’re not the same team now they were then (when they gave up 11 sacks). They’re not the same offensive line now that they were then. Clemson certainly has some really elite rushers. They got after them. It was also their quarterback’s first time playing at Auburn in a big game in a situation like that. So I don’t really go off that. And Clemson has their personnel and they play the way they play and we have our personnel and play the way we play. They’re not always the same. Clemson did a tremendous job getting pressure. We need to get pressure. We need to affect the quarterback. But you also have to cover the guys they have out there running the routes. And they’ve got some really fast guys out there running those routes. So big thing is stopping the run and not giving up big plays.”