Kirby Smart previews the matchup against Robby Ashford, Tank Bigsby

Georgia was able to escape an upset loss on the road against Missouri in week 5, rallying late to win 26-22 over the Tigers. The Bulldogs have a new challenge this week, and will face a different group of Tigers this week as they take on Auburn at home. Auburn’s offense features dual-threat quarterback Robby Ashford, who Georgia head coach Kirby Smart and his staff are familiar with.

“Well that’s a young man we recruited and came up and visited us several times, he’s a tremendous athlete,” Smart said. “Coach B Mac (Bryan McClendon) had him at Oregon when he was there and just talked about how phenomenal an athlete he is. He worked out with receivers and athletes, didn’t even work out with the quarterbacks during a lot of their conditioning program and you see it on tape.”

Ashford has only made two starts for Auburn this season but has made the most of them with his arm and legs, as he’s accounted for 529 all yards in the air and the ground and three touchdowns in his two weeks at the helm.

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“He is really special in terms of twitch, being elusive, his best plays sometimes are plays that end up being broken plays. And the guy can take off and really hurt you, he can beat you with his arm, especially on scrambles, they had a huge play last week off of a scramble play,” Smart said.

Ashford definitely has the skill set to give any defense problems, even one with the pedigree of Georgia, as Smart spoke on some of the keys to slowing him down.

“So being disciplined in your rush lanes, being disciplined in your coverage responsibilities when a quarterback scrambles will probably happen more often this week than most weeks just because of the athlete he is,” Smart said.

Ashford isn’t the only threat in Auburn’s backfield, as running back and former SEC freshman of the year Tank Bigsby is also a tough task for anyone to tackle.

“Well run game and pass game, he’s explosive. He’s a great guy out of the backfield to catch the ball, he catches screens well, he’s vertical on his run game, he’s tough, yards after contact,” Smart said. “He’s one of those backs, like the good ones, they get better with their carries. And he’s extremely physical and runs with low pad level, and he’s one of these typical SEC backs that you better bring your lunch pail when you come to tackle him.”

Bigsby leads the Tigers in rushing this season with 326 yards, and Ashford is right behind him with 223 of his own. And if the Bulldogs want to stay unbeaten this season, they’ll definitely have to slow down the Tiger’s backfield duo this weekend.