Pregame analysis
The Oklahoman’s Berry Tramel provides Big 12 and national pregame analysis for Week 11 of the college football season.
This time last season, Jarrett Stidham was attending McLennan Community College and not even on the football team. Also last November, Jake Fromm had just quarterbacked his last game for Houston County High School in Warner Robins, Georgia.
Now they duel in the SEC’s game of the year to date.
Stidham, who was a freshman phenom at Baylor in 2015, quarterbacks 10th-ranked Auburn. Fromm, a true freshman, quarterbacks No. 1 Georgia. They meet at Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium in a game that will have major College Football Playoff implications.
Stidham and Fromm rank 1-3 in SEC completion percentage, 3-1 in yards per pass and 1-3 in quarterbacking rating. They have combined for just seven interceptions.
Georgia likes to run the ball, of course, but “they are pretty efficient when they throw it, too,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said of Fromm. “That has probably been the most impressive thing is the way he has protected the football. And he has been on the money on some of those throws, specifically in the red zone.”
Auburn likes to run it, too. Always has. And since Cam Newton in 2010, Auburn has struggled at quarterback. But Stidham seems to have solved that problem.
“Jarrett is a really good athlete,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “He can run it. They do not ask him to run it as much but he certainly can. They have a vertical passing game. They have always had a vertical passing game. It’s just a matter of having the right guy to throw it to them. They have that guy now.”
A Georgia victory could mean the Bulldogs play Alabama in the SEC title game with both having the chance to advance to the College Football Playoff. An Auburn victory propels Auburn into a showdown game against Alabama on Thanksgiving weekend with a chance to totally turn the playoffs upside down.
Whatever happens, it’s that rare SEC showdown with the quarterbacks center stage.