NWADG College Football

2019

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Fisher is 0-2 as a head coach against Saban, in- cluding a 24-7 loss at Florida State in 2017 and 45-23 loss with Texas A&M last season. The Aggies improved to 9-4 in Fisher's first season from 7-6 in 2017 in Kevin Sumlin's final season as coach, and they're looking for another jump this season. If Texas A&M starts 4-0 with victories over Clem- son and Alabama, the Aggies surely will be ranked No. 1 in the country. 8. AUBURN AT LSU, OCT. 26, BATON ROUGE Auburn is looking for its first victory at Tiger Sta- dium in 20 seasons. Auburn has lost nine in a row on the road against LSU since winning 41-7 in Baton Rouge in 1999. LSU has won nine of the previous 12 meetings between the teams to take a 30-22-1 series. The tie was 7-7 in 1941 in Tiger Stadium. The last three games have been decided by a com- bined 10 points, including LSU's 22-21 victory at Auburn last season on Cole Tracy's 42-yard field goal in the final seconds. Winning at LSU is critical to Auburn's SEC West title hopes, with games later in the season against Georgia and Alabama. Auburn Coach Gus Malzahn is 2-4 against LSU. 9. FLORIDA VS. GEORGIA, NOV. 2, JACKSONVILLE, FLA. There has been some speculation the schools might decide to move the game to a home-and-home setup, but that's just a ploy to get more money from Jacksonville. It's hard to ever imagine the game leaving Jack- sonville, where the Gators and Bulldogs have meet annually since 1933 except for two seasons when the Gator Bowl — as the stadium in Jacksonville then was called — was undergoing renovations. The teams played in Gainesville in 1994 and Athens in 1995, with Florida winning both times as part of a seven-game winning streak under Coach Steve Spurrier. The Georgia-Florida winner will have the inside track to take the SEC East title. 10. LSU AT ALABAMA, NOV. 9, TUSCALOOSA, ALA. LSU's most recent victory over Alabama came in the season when the Tigers won their last SEC championship. It's hardly a coincidence. And it's tough for the Tigers and their fans to enjoy their 9-6 overtime victory over Alabama in 2011 be- cause even though LSU won the SEC championship, the Tigers had to play the Tide again for the national title that season. Alabama won the rematch 21-0 in the Sugar Bowl to start what has become an eight- game winning streak against LSU. Les Miles' inability to beat Alabama Coach Nick Saban — his predecessor as LSU's coach — even- tually cost him his job. Tigers Coach Ed Orgeron knows the Tigers need to break their losing streak against Alabama sooner rather than later. 11. GEORGIA AT AUBURN, NOV. 16, AUBURN, ALA. The game billed as the Deep South's oldest rivalry will have its 124th meeting when Georgia visits Jor- dan-Hare Stadium. Auburn and Georgia first played in 1892 when the Tigers beat the Bulldogs 10-0 in Atlanta. Georgia has dominated the series in recent years with an 11-3 record since 2006. All of the Tigers' victories in that span have come at home, including 40-17 in 2017. Georgia got its revenge with a 28-7 victory in the 2017 SEC Championship Game in the teams' first meeting in Atlanta since 1915. Last season, the Bulldogs beat the Tigers 27-10 to give Georgia a 59-56-8 series lead. The Tiger have an open date before Georgia this season, while the Bulldogs play Missouri at home the week before traveling to Auburn. 12. TEXAS A&M AT GEORGIA, NOV. 23, ATHENS, GA. The Aggies and Bulldogs will meet for the first in a conference game and just the sixth time overall. The teams' previous five meetings came when Tex- as A&M was in the Southwest Conference before joining the SEC. The game will be a matchup of former Nick Saban assistants. Georgia Coach Kirby Smart was Saban's defensive coordinator at Alabama and Fisher was Saban's offensive coordinator at LSU. Georgia and Texas A&M last met Dec. 28, 2009, when the Bulldogs won 44-20 in the Independence Bowl. The Bulldogs also beat the Aggies 42-0 in 1980, while Texas A&M beat Georgia 40-20 in 1950, 14-12 in 1953 and 6-0 in 1954. 13. TEXAS A&M AT LSU, NOV. 30, BATON ROUGE The Aggies ended a seven-game losing streak to LSU in dramatic fashion with a 74-72 victory at Kyle Field in seven overtimes last season. The game tied the NCAA record for most overtimes. Arkansas won at Ole Miss 58-56 in seven overtimes in 2001 and 71-63 at Kentucky in 2003. Apparently, seven overtimes is an SEC thing. Texas A&M's first victory over LSU since joining the SEC put some juice back in the rivalry. Prior to last season, the Aggies hadn't beaten the Tigers since 1995, when Texas A&M won 33-17. LSU leads the overall series 33-21-3, including 25-10-1 in Baton Rouge, where the Aggies haven't won since 1994. 14. ALABAMA AT AUBURN, NOV. 30, AUBURN, ALA. The Alabama-Auburn game hasn't been played in Birmingham — once known as the South's leader in the steel industry — since 1998, but it retains the Iron Bowl nickname. Auburn's Gus Malzahn is the only current SEC coach who has beaten Alabama's Nick Saban. Malzahn is 2-4 against Saban — who is 79-11 in his other SEC games with the Tide — with the Tigers beating Alabama 34-28 in 2013 and 26-14 in 2017. Both seasons, the Tigers won SEC West titles. Alabama has a 46-36-1 series lead over Auburn, including 8-4 under Saban. In Saban's first season at Alabama in 2007, the Tigers and Coach Tommy Tuberville beat the Tide 17-10 for Auburn's sixth consecutive victory in the series. 34 NWA College Football Preview 2019 Sunday, August 25, 2019 SEC v Continued from Page 33 AP File Photo Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn, shown during a game in 2018, is the only current SEC coach who has beaten Alabama's Nick Saban.

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