AUBURN | If Auburn is going to have a chance to upset No. 2 Georgia in Athens Saturday, it will take a special performance from Robby Ashford.

The Oregon transfer is expected to start his third game for the Tigers in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.

“He’s a playmaker, and he can do more, and I think the confidence that he took away from the LSU game—we have to build on that, and then obviously be better going into this one,” said AU coach Bryan Harsin.

Ashford completed 19 of 38 passes for 337 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for 19 yards in a 21-17 loss to LSU last weekend. He did throw an interception and had a fumble that was returned 23 yards for a touchdown.

Ashford had seven completions of 20 or more yards including a 53-yard touchdown pass to Ja’Varrius Johnson. Most of his big plays came after scrambles and his ability to run and extend plays puts a lot of pressure on defenses.

“When the D-line starts running you know what’s going on: ‘Stay on your blocks,’ because he’s going to make something happen,” said center Brandon Council. “He’s fast as crap. He’s so fast. We trust him back there, especially if we give him time like we did last week and we protect him long enough, he’s going to make something happen.”

Ashford spent two years at Oregon without playing. He transferred to Auburn in the offseason and finished behind T.J. Finley in the competition for the starting quarterback position during preseason drills.

Ashford, however, rotated in with Finley throughout the first three games before Finley, an LSU transfer, was injured against Penn State.

“I’ve seen him grow just in his ability to operate the offense and understand what we’re trying to do,” said Harsin. “This last game, we did throw the ball in moments of the game well. And there’s still plenty of things to work on from what we’re doing offensively to how we’re executing it. He continues to work every week. I think he continues to show toughness and his athletic ability gives us a chance to have an advantage.

“We’re not where we want to be but there are improvements in those areas that we’ve seen that we can build. It’s doing a lot of those things more consistently within our plan and our execution.”

Kickoff at Sanford Stadium is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT on CBS.