Team: Auburn Tigers

WHERE: Jordan Hare Stadium

WHEN: Saturday, November 16

2018 RECORD: (8-5, 3-5 in SEC West)

RETURNING STARTERS: Offense - 6 (LT Prince Tega Wanogho, LG Marquel Harrell, C Kaleb Kim, RG Mike Horton, RT Jack Driscoll, WR Seth Williams); Defense - 7 (DE Nick Coe, DT Derrick Brown, DE Marlon Davidson, CB Javaris Davis, CB Noah Igbinoghene, FS Jeremiah Dinson, SS Daniel Thomas); Special Teams: K Anders Carlson, P Arrun Siposs

KEY LOSSES: RB QB Jarrett Stidham, LB Deshaun Davis

NOTE TO KNOW: Auburn returns all five starters from last year’s offensive line.

Auburn muddled its way through a disappointing campaign, losing both to Georgia and Alabama, before rebounding with a 63-14 rout of Purdue in the Music City Bowl.

Offensively, the Tigers were never able to put together the needed consistency. Although the defense wasn’t bad, it didn’t quite play to the standards that Tiger fans have grown to expect.

Losses to Tennessee and LSU didn’t help the feelings of Tiger fans, who are expecting a big turnaround in 2019.

The Tigers have one big question heading into 2019: Who will the quarterback be?

Head coach Gus Malzahn has three candidates: junior Mark Willis, redshirt freshman Joey Gatewood, and early enrollee Bo Nix.

Otherwise, the Tigers appear as loaded as they've been in a few years.

This will certainly be one of the fastest teams Auburn has had, especially at running back and wide receivers, but also on defense at linebacker and in the secondary.

Both lines of scrimmage are solid.

Auburn brings back all five starters from its offensive front, while the defensive line, led by veterans Derrick Brown and Marlon Davidson, may be the best in the SEC.

The same can perhaps be said for the secondary, where all four starters return.

Auburn will be tested early when the Tigers face Oregon in Arlington, before going on the road for three straight weeks in October, against Florida, and Arkansas before closing out with four straight at home against Ole Miss, Georgia, Samford, and Alabama.

Assuming Auburn figures out its quarterback situation, this shapes up as Georgia’s most dangerous regular season game. But it’s not just the talent the Bulldogs will be facing that should cause some concern for fans of the red and black.

For all the great things Kirby Smart has done as head coach, his first three years as head coach have seen the Bulldogs go 0-3 on the road against teams from the Western Division.

Of course, one of those losses was a 40-17 loss to the Tigers in Jordan-Hare back in 2017.

The Bulldogs will need to be ready.

How do you expect the quarterback battle to pan out?

Matthews: "Going into spring practice, I was expecting true freshman Bo Nix to win the job or at least be considered the favorite coming out. Turns out I didn't give enough credit to redshirt freshman Joey Gatewood and how much he'd improved since the fall. Nix is the best passing quarterback Auburn has signed in quite a while, but Gatewood brings an element to the offense that Auburn hasn't truly had since 2014: a dual-threat quarterback.

"He's built like Cam Newton, but certainly has a long way to go before he can draw real comparisons to the former Heisman Trophy winner. Gatewood's passing ability, specifically his accuracy, was a work in progress when he arrived, but I think he's made enough positive progress to be the starter when the season gets started against Oregon in Dallas. I do think Nix will play too, and by the time November gets here, the starter against Georgia will come down to which one has performed the best during the season, or which one is healthy enough to suit up.

What did Derrick Brown returning for another year mean for the defense?

Matthews: "Derrick Brown is a great football player and an equally exceptional human being. As impressive a young man I've covered in the past 19 years. Very involved in leadership positions at Auburn and in the SEC, and also active in a lot of charities. On the field, he's a play-maker at defensive tackle and can make some noise in the backfield. He'll deal with a lot of double-teams this season, and he's got the power to bust through them at times. His length also allows him to get his hands up and disrupt passing lanes. He'll be a key leader, a likely captain, and probably one of the team's spokesmen that will come for interviews each week.

Biggest strengths, biggest weakness for the Tigers this year

Matthews: "The defensive line is far and away the team's strength. As UGA fans know well, Rodney Garner has been recruiting, developing, and coaching top SEC defensive lines for a couple of decades. He's got a few 2020 NFL draft prospects starting in Brown, Nick Coe, and Marlon Davidson. Coe will probably start at Buck linebacker and Davidson at defensive end, but both are capable of sliding inside, especially in passing situations.

"Coe spent most of the spring working at defensive tackle as Auburn's got several young pass-rushing Bucks that could be ready to step up this fall including T.D. Moultry. Overall, a lot of versatility and some pretty good depth on the d-line. I'd probably put special teams as Auburn's second best unit with the kicker, punter, some talented return specialists and some really good punt/kick blockers all returning.

"I'd probably put the tight ends and H-backs as the biggest weakness. A lot of youth and inexperience there. Auburn's inability to recruit and develop an every-down tight end has really slowed down Gus Malzahn's so-called HUNH (hurry-up, no-huddle) offense because of the need to for situational substitutions. The quarterback position has to be considered a big question mark with two freshmen vying for the starting position; however, we have seen some talented freshmen thrive in the SEC in the right situations recently."