For all the criticism of Auburn's offensive line play this season — really, over the past two years — a strong performance on the ground Saturday against an elite Georgia front would help to alleviate that scrutiny for good reason.
Georgia is the only team in all of organized college football regardless of designation — FBS, FCS, Division-II or Division-III — yet to allow a rushing score this year, according to Rivals's Patrick Garbin.
"I think that’s a challenge of everybody that plays them," Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said Tuesday. "You’ve got to be able to run the football effectively. You can’t be one-dimensional. For us to be successful, we’re going to have to run the football effectively. That’s really how we’re built anyway. That’ll be a really good matchup to watch. And we’ll see what happens."
It happens that Auburn will have its top two running backs both ready for action for the first time this season. Upstart true freshman D.J. Williams has led the Tigers backfield over the past three games with 271 yards while incumbent starting tailback Boobee Whitlow has healed up from a knee injury suffered Oct. 5 against Florida.
Whitlow returned ahead of schedule two weeks later against LSU, and Malzahn's "goal" during the bye week was that the redshirt sophomore would be 100 percent before kickoff Saturday against the Bulldogs. And by the way players spoke Tuesday, it seems Whitlow will be plenty available.
"The off week was really great for our team. We all got healthy in all aspects," Harrell said. "But just having that 1-2 punch back there is really good because like, if D.J. gets a little winded or tired, or Boobee gets a little winded or tired, you know, we have both those guys to insert."
With a by-committee group that has been intermittently healthy, Auburn has been a top-20 rushing team nationally for nearly the whole season. It currently sits exactly at No. 20 at 219 yards per game, while Georgia stifles its opponents to a 74.56 yards-per-game average, good for the fourth-best mark in the country.
Something has to give in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
"Anytime we run the ball, I get happy. I'm an offensive lineman," Harrell said. "But our goal is just to go out there and do, however we get the job done, at the end of the day a win is a win. If we throw the ball a hundred times and win or we run the ball a hundred times and win. No matter what, we just want to win.
"But to break the rushing record that they have would be nice."
