Naturally, the subject of rivalries came up during Hugh Freeze’s press conference Monday to preview Saturday’s game with Georgia (3:30 p.m., ESPN).

Considering Saturday’s contest marks the 128th overall meeting in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry, it was a natural question to pursue.

Depending on who you talk to, it’s also one of the Bulldogs’ most intense ones on a schedule full of heated rivalries, although Freeze attempted to tamp down any fervor by expressing a statement of “love.”

“I’m not big on hate. I’m big on that this game means so much to so many people, so we should compete in a way out of love for our people. Not necessarily for hate to other people,” Freeze said. “That’s kind of the way I operate. I hope we compete because we love Auburn, and it means something to the Auburn people to compete against Georgia. That’ll be my approach. Love is a great motivator for me.”

Smart and Freeze are certainly no strangers to one another.

The two met numerous times when Smart was the defensive coordinator at Alabama and Freeze the head coach at Ole Miss. Their last meeting came in 2016, Smart’s first year, with the Rebels routing the Bulldogs in Oxford, 45-14.

"I played Kirby his first year (at Georgia) when I was still at Ole Miss. I know kind of what he inherited, because I coached in that game. I know what the outcome was,” Freeze said. “But it's a great testament to his vision, his work ethic, his staff, his administration being patient to have the year he needed to recruit. The dividends are paying off greatly. They are one of the gold standards in college football right now. They are recruiting a top-three class every single year.”

Freeze said that’s a level his Tigers aspire to reach.

“That's hard to compete with, and they are well coached. You have to give them credit. I know it’s a rivalry game, but the truth is the truth,” Freeze said. “He has built a dang good football program there. It means a lot of things. It means he has the support from the administration and the fans."

If the Tigers (3-1, 0-1) hope to pull off the upset, Freeze said his team has to play much better than it did in its 27-10 loss at Texas A&M.

He said the message to his team following the defeat was a truthful one.

“That’s a balancing act. I’m always truthful with our team. I tell them every Monday, and our truth meeting this afternoon. In this game, you're the favorite, you should win it. This game is a toss-up. You'll be the underdog, and here is how we're going to win it,” Freeze said. “I've done that everywhere I've ever been. I think it creates transparency and authenticity. At the same time, I tell them to be very clear on the fact that I've never walked into a game thinking we can't win it, and they shouldn't, either.

"I give them plenty of examples that you're not supposed to take a Liberty team and beat Arkansas, either. Or Virginia Tech. Or Ole Miss, when we beat Alabama. But we’ve done that, and we can do it here, too.”

However, the Tigers know they have to be better and more efficient than they were against the Aggies.

“Offensively, I know you'll find this hard to believe, but you watch the tape and there's a lot of good things in the first half. We should've left the first half with a minimum of 12 points. The two holding calls that we had on 1st-and-10 inside of the 30 on both of them, put us behind the chains. We're not quite good enough yet to survive that,” Freeze said. “But I'm excited to be back home to play one of the gold standards in college football right now, with what Coach (Kirby) Smart has done there in his eighth season. He's got it rolling, so it'll be a great test for us. Thank God we're in Jordan-Hare. I know it will be electric, and we're going to get the kids that are healthy enough ready to play and compete in this game.”