We're here friends: The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry, and one that hasn't carried this much weight in quite some time, perhaps since 2002, when David Greene hit Michael Johnson on fourth down, sending Georgia to the SEC Championship and helping eliminate Auburn's chances.
This year, the Bulldogs have already clinched the SEC East, but the Tigers are clinging within two monumental upsets of rematching Georgia in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in December.
Georgia is, of course, clinging to a perfect season and potential College Football Playoff hopes.
So let's take a dive into some definitely relevant stats.
The last time...
1) These teams met:
2016's version of the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry represented Kirby Smart's first signature win as a head coach.
Behind a defense that surrendered just 7 points overall and 0 first downs in the second half, the Dawgs knocked off Auburn 13-7 in Sanford Stadium.
Georgia's only points came on a third quarter pick-six by Maurice Smith.
Gus Malzahn's offense was, for the third time in four tries, held to just 7 points Between the Hedges.
2) A current Georgia player scored a touchdown against Auburn:
Nick Chubb is the last (and only) current Bulldog to score a touchdown in this rivalry, punching in an 11-yard touchdown with 3:51 left in the game to seal a 34-7 victory back in 2014.
Since then, Georgia has only scored three total touchdowns against the Tigers, one in each phase of the game.
Isaiah McKenzie scored a pair of touchdowns in the 20-13 victory on The Plains in 2015, one on a rush and one on a punt return.
And, as we mentioned earlier, Smith pulled in that pick-six for the only touchdown the Dawgs would score in 2016.
3) Auburn lost to Georgia six times in seven years:
A loss for the Tigers on Saturday would be their sixth loss in seven tries against the Bulldogs, something that hasn't happened since ... the Mark Richt era.
Richt, for whatever it's worth, absolutely owned Auburn, winning 10 out of 15 matchups during his tenure.
That included winning six of seven between 2006 and 2012, only dropping a road game to Cam Newton in 2010.
4) Georgia beat Auburn on the road, with a freshman quarterback:
Hey look! The Mark Richt era!
The game that started the streak mentioned above began with a 37-15 drubbing in Jordan-Hare Stadium, when a true freshman by the name of Matthew Stafford led the unranked Bulldogs to an upset over the No. 5 Tigers, who still had an outside shot of playing for a national championship.
Stafford continually gashed Auburn that day, which had no answer for the quarterback draw play, which allowed Stafford to rack up 83 rushing yards.
Oh, and some kid named Tra Battle had three interceptions on the afternoon, one of which was returned for a touchdown.
5) Auburn went undefeated at home:
The Tigers are undefeated on The Plains this season (4-0), outscoring opponents by an average of 39.5 to 12.3.
It's worth noting that Auburn still has two more home games after Saturday, with Idaho and Alabama coming to town, but let's play out the hypothetical scenario anyway, one which would force an SEC Championship rematch.
For this, we need to return to 2013, when the Tigers finished 11-1, including a perfect 8-0 at home.
That season, Auburn outscored its opponents by an average of 38.4 to 19.3, nearly a touchdown worse defensively than 2017.
6) Georgia allowed 30 points:
Perhaps the 2016 season should've served as a bit of foreshadowing. That team, despite an 8-5 record, was actually pretty decent on defense.
Only two teams broke 30 on the Dawgs. One of them required hookers a cheating coach, and other required a Hail Mary.
The Life Champions are actually the last to break the mark, with the 34-31 heart breaker in Sanford last year.
Since then, none of Georgia's 17 other opponents have broken 30. Missouri came the closest this year, at 28.
7) An SEC East champion (or eventual champ) had a loss to Auburn in the regular season:
For the first time ever, Georgia enters the game against the Tigers having already clinched the SEC East. Wins in 2002 and 2012 clinched spots in the SEC Champinoship games, while campaigns in 2003, 2005 and 2012 saw the Dawgs have to wait until later in November to clinch.
But a loss Saturday would mean be the first SEC East champion's loss to Auburn since 2010, the only year South Carolina has ever won the East.
The Gamecocks lost 35-27 in Jordan-Hare Stadium on Sept. 25, only to eventually rematch the eventual national champions in the SEC Championship, getting housed 56-17 in the rematch.
It does have some parallel to this season, since there is still a very real (though admittedly long) shot for the Tigers to win the SEC West, and rematch the Bulldogs in Atlanta.
8) Georgia had 9 wins by double-digits in a season:
Just in case, let's go ahead and keep this stat in our back pockets for the Kentucky game, but just for fun let's see what it is.
A double-digit win in any of the Bulldogs last three games would make it nine on the season, a first since 2014, when all but one of Georgia's 10 wins came by double digits.
The only close win that year was a 35-32 victory over Tennessee. Wins over Clemson, Troy, Vanderbilt, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Charleston Southern and Louisville all came by at least 13 points.
BONUS: What about 10 double-digit wins?
I'm glad you asked.
Hold this one in your back pocket, too, because we know there will be at least five more chances for these wins to pile up.
Should there be two more, it mark the first time since 1946, a team that finished 11-0, ranked No. 3 in the country.
All 11 victories were by at least 10 points, the closest being a 20-10 win over No. 9 North Carolina in the Sugar Bowl.
And, as you might imagine, this also answers the ensuing "What about 11 double-digit wins?" stat line.
So let's head this last one off...
DOUBLE BONUS: What about 12 double-digit wins?
As you might've guessed, this has never happened.
1946 remains the most double-digit wins Georgia has ever posted in a single season.
9) Auburn went a month or more between home games:
The Tigers have played three consecutive road games (plus a bye week) since its last home game — a 44-23 win over Ole Miss on Oct. 7.
(And an obvious caveat: This doesn't include the gap made by an off-season.)
This marks the first time since 1994, when Auburn went exactly a month between a 41-14 win over Kentucky on Sept. 29 and a 31-14 win over Arkansas on Oct. 29.
What happened against Georgia that season, you might ask? A 23-23 tie, which snapped a 20-game winning streak for the Tigers.
10) Georgia allowed a 3rd quarter touchdown:
We touched on the fact in last week's blog that, until the South Carolina game, only Notre Dame had scored any points on the Bulldog defense in the 3rd quarter all season.
The Gamecocks broke that streak, though they, like the Fighting Irish, were held to a mere field goal.
The last player to score a 3rd quarter touchdown on Georgia was John Diarse, who plays for TCU. He fauled in a 9-yard pass from Kenny Hill with 2:07 left in the 3rd quarter of last year's Liberty Bowl.
No player since then has been able to do it. And that list includes players like Brandon Wimbush, Nick Fitzgerald and Florida's most amazingly stupendous athlete, Chauncey Gardner.
***
The betting lines have held steady this week, with Vegas liking the Dawgs by 2.5 points in most books.
I honestly have no idea.
It's strength on strength. It's a road game.
It could well be the first real, hostile road test for Jake Fromm.
I can't even make a prediction, I just know this game is going to be tight.
Buckle up.
