Georgia Bulldogs Head Coach Kirby Smart addressed the media on Tuesday evening at Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall ahead of the Georgia-Auburn game.

While all the talk across college football for the past few days has been about Georgia’s loss to the Crimson Tide, the Bulldogs walk into a home matchup with the struggling Auburn Tigers in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.

Smart, in his opening statement about how the team has done at practice this week, said:

“The historic nature of this game is very personal…. explaining what the game means and I think the players recognize that and they certainly practiced hard.”

While Hugh Freeze and Auburn have certainly had their troubles in many areas this year, let’s not forget about the Tigers’ near upset last year. In front of a rocking Jordan-Hare Stadium crowd, the two-touchdown favorite Bulldogs rallied behind key plays from Brock Bowers to escape with a 27-20 victory on the Plains. While Georgia had the better team and ultimately the better season, that game was a prime example of how different rivalry games are when it comes to getting a team ready to play mentally.

On top of the sour taste in their mouth from what happened in Tuscaloosa, it seems as though Smart and Co. will have very little trouble getting the team fired up to play this weekend, as he and a few others on staff played in this game during their collegiate careers.

Going into some of the history of this matchup, Georgia leads the all-time series 64-56-8. The Dawgs haven’t lost to the Tigers since 2017 when former Auburn coach Gus Malzahn defeated Georgia 40-17 in Auburn. The last time that Georgia suffered a home loss in this rivalry was in 2005.

Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on ABC.