Tim Tebow claims Georgia game is 'do or die' for Auburn

After a 3-0 start, Auburn has lost its last two to open conference play. Ahead of the latest edition of The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry, Tim Tebow says it’s now or never for the Tigers.

Tebow, along with Roman Harper, assessed No. 10 Georgia vs. Auburn while on ‘The Paul Finebaum Show’ on Friday. He noted that, considering the way their season has gone the past three weeks and with a rivalry game tomorrow night at Jordan-Hare, this is a must-win for the Tigers.

“You’re going to see an Auburn team, at home in a crazy environment, that’s going to let everything loose and play with a reckless abandon because it really is do or die for Auburn,” Tebow said. “I think you’re going to see Hugh Freeze with a game plan that’s going to be aggressive, have a lot of shots involved, have a lot of trick plays involved, trying to be able to manufacture some offense.”

As for breaking down the game, Tebow and Harper repeatedly brought up the Bulldogs’ defensive front versus Auburn’s offensive line. That’s ironic, though, as Tebow mentioned those have actually been weaknesses on that side of the ball for each team.

“When you look at this, it’s actually kind of weird of their strengths and weaknesses,” Tebow said. “The weakness for Georgia’s defense is getting pressure on the quarterback and the weakness for Auburn is protecting their quarterback and not getting Jackson Arnold, you know, to have pressure and be sacked in the backfield. And so, what’s going to give in this game?”

However, the pressure by Georgia on Auburn’s offense is still the key. If they can get it, the Bulldogs can get to a place physically where they can control the game. But if they can’t, the Tigers can be in more manageable situations to take advantage of.

“Can Georgia’s defense get enough pressure on Jackson Arnold? Because he has not been good under pressure, versus when he is protected. It’s just that’s what the game is going to come down to,” Harper said. “And then, can Auburn’s defense slow down Georgia trying to run the football? Because, if Georgia gets the run game going, they’ll be able to win the game and control it that way.”

“I think you have Cam Coleman, you have Singleton. You have some weapons that are out wide that, when you get some bump and run man coverage, you’ve got to take advantage…They cannot just do dink and dunk and think they’re going to go 12, 14 plays against this Georgia defense. It’s about creating explosives,” Tebow said. “This offense has the talent, but they also have to protect their quarterback. They can’t be in second or third and long. If you can be in okay second, third and medium, third and short? Now everything is at your disposal, and you can give your weapons a chance to go win.”

This could be one of those special nights we often see down on The Plains. It’s now on Auburn to give their home crowd what they came for in attempting to pull the upset on the ‘Dawgs.

“You’ve got to keep the crowd in it,” Harper said. “When you’re at home, they’re going to be juiced up early. They’re retiring Cam Newton’s jersey. So, all of these things are going to play into the emotional aspect of it for Auburn, but they’ve got to handle their business on the field.”