By: Cameron Heath Walker (@1788sports, @camheathwalker)

Georgia has been playing great all year and put themselves in the SEC Championship by winning the SEC East, and also into great position to get a spot in the College Football Playoff if they can overcome their one blemish of the season: a 40-17 beating by Auburn a few weeks ago. If you look solely based at the boxscore and highlights you probably are thinking Saturday will be no different and is a no brainer for the Tigers to win again and be 2017 SEC Champions, but I am not too sure that will be the case and here are my reasons that the Dawgs will have a great chance to win.

Auburn Running Backs – Kerryon Johnson, the dude took over their first match up with 32 carries and 167 yards. Johnson has been an absolute monster this year having at least 20 carries, 139.8 ypg, and 14 TDs. No doubt he has been a huge part of the Tiger’s offense, but with a shoulder injury against Alabama that required him to come out not once but twice, that is a huge worry. It doesn’t help matters that Kam Martin also had to leave the game with an injury as well after coming in for Johnson. Kamryn Pettway has been out since October with a fractured shoulder blade and not looking likely to play either. This could be a huge issue for Auburn being a run first offensive. No Jordan Hare, No Problem? – Home field advantage is a huge favor for Auburn as it is for any team, but especially when you play inside Jordan Hare Stadium. If you haven’t seen any video of the UGA match up there or this past Saturday with Alabama, that crowd was insane! With the SEC Championship being played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, this gives a huge advantage to the Dawgs. Not only is it in their home state, Dawg fans have had time to buy tickets with them being on sale since the preseason and by earning their spot weeks ago. Also I don’t see too many Alabama fans willing to sell their tickets to Auburn supporters who just beat them out of their spot for the title. I would assume it will be a heavily favored UGA crowd, one that will not let off the pressure the entire game. This may seem like a small factor, but both of Auburns L’s came at Clemson and at LSU, both known for being tough for visiting teams to come into but with the factors turning towards a mostly UGA crowd we could really see this play a huge factor. Penalties, Penalties, and more Penalties – Undisciplined penalties were a huge set back in the first match up. With UGA trying to put on the rally caps and get a comeback rolling. Multiple unsportsmanlike penalties held the Dawgs from making a move. It’s one thing for a young OL in a hostile environment to get flagged for jumping the snap, but when your seasoned leaders are getting unsportsmanlike penalties and killing your drive, that will not win ball games, plain and simple. Sony Michel was flagged in the first contest for pushing an Auburn defender. This is not normal for Sony especially being someone the team looks to for leadership. This was a huge flag with Auburn starting at Georgia’s 34 instead of near midfield. A few plays later and Auburn scores a touchdown to go up 30-7. 7 flags for 75 yards may not seem too terrible but the timing of them was huge and turned into points on the board for Auburn. This was the most penalties for UGA since the Notre Dame game where they had 12 flags for 126 yards. Fun fact both games had the same officiating crew lead by Matt Austin. No one can blame the officials for the calls, D’Andre Walker’s leaping penalty extended an Auburn drive from a punt to resulting into a touchdown for the Tigers in the first half.

Of course everyone points to the UGA OL and how they got beat on basically every snap, besides maybe the first drive. Yes this is an area UGA has to beef up on and play better but I wanted to bring up different factors besides the line battle that clearly was in Auburn’s favor. I think Saturday will be a different game for both sides and will end up being a hard fought battle by both teams.