Auburn’s offensive line is still searching for answers, and the biggest question now sits right in the middle of it.
After the bye week, Alex Golesh pointed directly at Cole Best’s recent struggles, including a tough outing against Tennessee. With No.
1 Georgia coming to Athens on Saturday, the obvious debate is whether Auburn should consider a change at center. The answer, at least for this week, sounds like probably not.
Golesh didn’t sugarcoat Best’s performance, but he also made it clear he believes the center can rebound.
“Yeah, he did. He struggled,” said Golesh.
“I thought he struggled in general. I thought like all of it happened really, really fast for him."
That Tennessee game was a rough one across the front, and Best wasn’t alone in having a hard time with the pressure Tennessee brought. Still, his performance pushed Auburn into a familiar spot: looking for more stability without creating more moving parts.
Golesh did mention a few other names who could factor into the conversation, including Kail Ellis, Cole Skinner, and Kenneth McManus. McManus has already logged meaningful snaps at guard after taking over for Skinner, though shifting him again would force the staff into another adjustment.
That matters because Auburn has already spent a lot of the season trying to steady this offensive line, especially at left tackle and right guard. Throwing a new center into the mix against Georgia’s defense would be a big ask, and one that doesn’t seem likely to happen in this matchup.
Center is a spot where the details matter. The communication has to be sharp, and the chemistry with the rest of the line has to be there. Against the most talented front Auburn has seen this year, starting over there would be a bold move.
Still, this weekend could tell Auburn something important even if the starter doesn’t change. If Georgia gets out in front and the game starts slipping away, it would make sense to see whether Auburn uses that time to test different combinations up front.
That could mean snaps for Ellis or McManus at center, or simply a chance to get younger linemen on film for the second half of the season.
Either way, Auburn has to learn what it has beyond the current group.
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Auburn Has A Real Chance To Make Georgia Sweat
Auburn heads into its matchup with Georgia carrying the kind of underdog profile that can make a favorite uncomfortable, at least on paper. SportsLines 1,000 simulations point to the Tigers covering the spread nearly 60 percent of the time, a nod to a game model that sees Auburn in better shape than the oddsmakers do. The Tigers are also coming off a bye week, and the projections lean toward a lower-scoring game in which Auburns rushing attack could look sharper.
There are still obvious hurdles to clear in Athens, starting with Georgias home dominance under Kirby Smart and Auburns own personnel hit after linebacker Xavier Atkins was suspended. But the simulation results suggest this might be more than a routine road spot for the Tigers, especially if they can control tempo and make the game play out on their terms. The question now is whether Auburn can turn that theoretical edge into the kind of performance that forces Georgia into a real fight. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Faces A Brutal Early Test In Athens Under Alex Golesh
Auburn heads into one of the toughest assignments on its schedule Saturday, when the Tigers travel to Athens for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff against No. 1 Georgia on ESPN. The matchup brings the usual rivalry pressure, but this one also arrives with the Bulldogs again looking like the more complete team, and with Auburn beat writers pointing to the gap in talent and Georgias recent control of the series.
Still, the bye week gives Auburn a little extra time to sort through its issues before walking into Sanford Stadium, and that was a recurring part of the discussion in the staff predictions. Even with Georgias edge and Auburns uneven season so far, there is at least some belief that a better-prepared Tigers team can make the trip more competitive than the matchup on paper might suggest. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Faces The SEC Test That Could Change Everything
Week 7 brings the kind of SEC slate that can reshape an October in a hurry, and Auburn is right in the middle of it with a trip to face Georgia drawing plenty of attention. Around the league, five analysts have weighed in on eight upcoming conference matchups, underscoring how much uncertainty still hangs over the race and how thin the margin is in games like Auburn-Georgia, Alabama-Tennessee and Missouri-Ole Miss.
For Auburn, the matchup is about more than just another prediction column. It is the sort of test that can alter the conversation around the Tigers in a hurry, because every SEC weekend seems to carry extra weight and every pick comes with a built-in argument. The forecasts are only opinions, of course, but they reflect the stakes well enough: Auburn is heading into one of those Saturdays where the result can change how the rest of the season feels. [Read more 🡒]