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The Georgia Bulldogs (6-0) are coming off a major 20-17 win against the Alabama Crimson Tide (5-1) in Tuscaloosa over the weekend. This weekend, Georgia will stay in Athens and play another Alabama program in the Auburn Tigers (3-2). There is always a ton of anticipation between Georgia and Auburn in what is called the “Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.” Auburn will be looking to come in shake things up in the SEC while the Bulldogs will be looking to remain in the new No. 1 spot that they earned after defeating Alabama and obviously with Texas losing to Oklahoma over the weekend as well.
In a contest like this, it’s always crucial to have all your key players and in the SEC that is a very difficult thing to do in general. When playing a gauntlet of a schedule in the SEC, it’s important to have a healthy roster to withstand the physicality of the teams on the schedule.
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For Auburn, they will be without a key piece to their defense when heading to Athens this Saturday. The Tigers top All-SEC linebacker, Xavier Atkins has been ruled out for the contest due to a suspension and reason for he suspension has not been reported.
“We’ll revisit it next week when we meet again (next) Monday,” Golesh said. “We’ll keep it in house beyond that. That’s the only piece of it I’ll be addressing.”
Auburn Tigers linebacker Xavier Atkins (17) tackles Georgia Bulldogs running back Chauncey Bowens
The preseason All-American linebacker, Xavier Atkins lead the team in tackles last season and was one of the best defensive players in all of the country. Atkins led the team with 84 tackles, nine sacks and 17 of his tackles for loss led the SEC.
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Atkins started off the season with a bang in the first five contest, he has 37 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, three sacks and one interception. With Atkins being ruled out against Georgia, the Tigers defensive coordinator DJ Durkin will look to the next man up.
The Tigers can expect to rely heavily on their depth to fill the void of Atkins and it starts with sophomore Bryce Deas and junior De’Marcus Riddick. Deas and Riddick are expected to see a large increase of playing time next to starting linebacker Elijah Melendez, who currently leads the Tigers in total tackles. Auburn seems to have the depth needed in order to remain competitive against a high caliber team in Georgia and it will take everything the Tigers have because the home field advantage will be a factor in Athens as well.
It will be interesting to see how Auburn handles the absence of their star linebacker and how Georgia will try and take advantage of it. Absences may matter but records never matter in a game like this and Kirby Smart and his team will be aware of that as the Tigers come to town.
Kickoff will take place on Saturday, October 17, at 3:30 p.m. ET.
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This article originally appeared on UGA Wire: Auburn All-SEC star out vs. Georgia football
