AUBURN | Auburn hasn’t won at Georgia since 2005. The Bulldogs hold a 12-3 series edge since then.

Even one of the Tigers’ biggest wins of the series, 40-17 over No. 1 Georgia in 2017, was flipped three weeks later with a 28-7 loss in the SEC Championship game.

To say No. 7 Auburn’s coaches and players are fired up about an opportunity to knock off No. 4 Georgia in Athens Saturday night would be an understatement.

“We’re coming back with a chip on our shoulder because we lost to them last year,” junior running back Shaun Shivers said. “We’re just motivated to play. Georgia is a good football team so we have to come in and play. We’re just motivated by that. We know they’re going to come to play so we have to come to play on our end too.”

UGA built a 21-0 lead in Jordan-Hare Stadium last fall only to see quarterback Bo Nix engineer two fourth quarter touchdowns. But a final drive came up short on downs at the UGA 34-yard line.

Nix goes into his first road game as a sophomore with the experience of playing in tough atmospheres like Texas A&M, Florida and LSU a year ago.

“I think there's nothing like experience,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. “You go through it once or twice and you understand what your challenges are and what you've got to deal with. This year's a little bit different in that it's not going to be 90,000. But still they're going to have the piped in noise and all that stuff. It was definitely good for him to be able to experience those hostile environments against really good defenses.”

Nix, Shivers and AU’s offense will face a Georgia defense projected to be one of the nation’s best with seven defensive starters on the All-SEC team. The Bulldogs held Arkansas to 280 total yards in a 37-10 road win last Saturday.

“We know Georgia’s defense is one of the best defenses in the SEC. They fly around to the ball,” Shivers said. “They show up good on film. We just have to be prepared and ready to fight. We know it’s going to be a dogfight.”

The other side of the ball is not quite as settled for the Bulldogs, which are rebuilding their offensive line. Two quarterbacks played against the Razorbacks and a third, USC transfer JT Daniels, was cleared to play earlier this week.

“Each quarterback is probably a little bit different,” Malzahn said. “They've played one game with a new offensive coordinator, so we'll see. But it's kind of like playing a first game like (Kentucky). We're just going to have to adjust and be ready to make changes if needed as the game goes on.”

Playing a tough schedule is nothing new, but playing in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry this early is something that hasn’t happened since the inaugural matchup Feb. 20, 1892.

The Tigers will enter the game as a 7.5-point underdog.

“It's no big deal. We're used to it. We're used to playing the hardest schedule,” defensive lineman DaQuan Newkirk said. “We want this. We want to prove everybody wrong.”

Kickoff at Sanford Stadium is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPN.