A ‘unique’ rematch presents itself between Georgia and Auburn

Not too often do teams play each other twice in a college football season.

It’s a sport with a relatively short season that concludes with conference championships that don’t usually see many rematches. This year’s SEC Championship, however, will feature just that when Georgia and Auburn meet again for the second time in four weeks.

In the first meeting on The Plains, Auburn rolled to a 40-17 win over Georgia. While the Bulldogs trailed 16-7 at the half, the Tigers caught fire in the third quarter en route to its blowout victory.

But there’s a prevailing thought in football, which is that it is difficult to beat the same team twice in a season.

Then again, these teams play each other every year and have a great deal of familiarity. Therefore, head coach Kirby Smart doesn’t think there is much to look into with a same-season rematch.

“Two times in one year is unique but it’s not really a challenge or advantage in any way, I think,” Smart said. “Both teams just know each other. There’s a lot of carryover on both staffs, a lot of talented players on both teams. I’m not sure it presents any advantages or disadvantages.”

Both Smart and Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn have both been involved in rematch games before. They have never been involved in one as a head coach, however.

Smart was a graduate assistant with Florida State in 2003 when the Seminoles played Miami in the regular season and lost 22-14. In the Orange Bowl, Florida State lost again to Miami 16-14.

In 2011, Smart was Alabama’s defensive coordinator in a 9-6 loss to LSU in the regular season. While the Crimson Tide defense did a good job in a loss, it did even better during a 21-0 win over LSU in the BCS National Championship.

Smart also had rematch experience in the NFL when he was the safeties coach with the Miami Dolphins in 2006. His teams lost to the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets twice while splitting the yearly series with the New England Patriots.

Malzahn’s first college rematch came in 2007 when he was the offensive coordinator at Tulsa. In the regular season, his team beat Central Florida 44-23 and won the rematch in the Conference USA Championship 44-25. As Auburn’s offensive coordinator in 2010, the Tigers defeated South Carolina 35-27 in the regular season before blowing the Gamecocks out 56-17 in the SEC Championship.

Unlike Smart and Malzahn’s recent rematches as coordinators, this one has a different feel since not much time has elapsed since the two teams last played each other.

“The unique thing about this, it’s a four-week turnaround. It’s very recent,” Malzahn said. “That’s what makes it more unique and challenging.”

Malzahn added that having experience in rematch situations helps for games such as this one.

Smart, however, noted that while the first game between the rivals will go into his team’s preparation, Saturday’s SEC Championship will have nothing to do with the previous meeting.

“It really is not about the game before,” Smart said. “It’s really about the motivation in this game. Our kids understand that. They know they have an opportunity to go out and at least erase what they did last time. This is a fresh start to go out and play a new game.”

This story was originally published November 26, 2017 at 6:10 PM with the headline "A ‘unique’ rematch presents itself between Georgia and Auburn."