The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry continues this week as Georgia and Auburn square off for the 126th time. This series has had some magical moments for Bulldog fans, from the 1959 final-minute touchdown pass by Fran Tarkenton to Bill Herron giving the Bulldogs the SEC title, to the Dawgs defense "hunkering down one more time" in 1982.

Georgia improved to 5-0 after the shutout win last week over No. 8 Arkansas. This is the fourth time under Kirby Smart that the Bulldogs have started 5-0 (the other three times, the Dawgs won the division). The last time Georgia shut out a top ten team was in 1976, when it blanked No. 10 Alabama.

As you remember, the Bulldogs also shut out its opponent (Vanderbilt) the week before. The last time they had back-to-back shutouts was in 2006; the last time they did so with two SEC teams was 1980. The last time Georgia posted three straight shutouts was in 1971. Check out all the back-to-backs dating back to 1936.

Keeping the Hogs off the scoreboard added up to the seventh shutout under Smart. Since he took over in 2016, the Bulldogs are tied with the most shutouts in the FBS. Here are the top seven.

Georgia is currently the only team in the nation with two shutouts this season.

The shutout helped lower its scoring defense average to a nation's-best 4.6 points per game allowed. Georgia has allowed just 23 points this season (and not all of them were against the defense). Georgia allowed just three points in its first five games back in 1920, and five points in its first five games in 1910. The 23 points allowed is still pretty impressive. Since SEC play began in 1933, the 23 points allowed by the Dawgs is the second best after their first five games.

• In recent seasons, Georgia allowed 34 points through five games in 2006, and 33 points in 1981.

• The 23 points allowed is also the fewest any FBS team has allowed through its first five games based upon data going back to 1996 (1996 West Virginia and 2001 Virginia Tech each allowed 24).

• 323 times this season an FBS team has allowed 24 or more points in a single game, compared to the 23 points allowed by Georgia all season.

Here are three teams in some of college football's most important defensive categories.

Georgia held its opponents to an average of 8.9 points per game in 1981 prior to the bowl game (bowl stats did not count back then). Twice it led the nation in this category (9.8 in 1968 and 12.6 in 2019).

Switching to offense, JT Daniels and Stetson Bennett have shared the load this season. Both quarterbacks have completed over 70 percent of their passes. Here's a breakdown of how each has fared by downs.

Ladd McConkey led Georgia with receptions against Arkansas with three; no other Bulldog had more than one. McConkey and teammate Brock Bowers are among the conference leaders in receptions this season among true and redshirt freshmen.

Georgia is tied with Akron and Liberty with eight touchdown receptions among all freshmen.

Against Arkansas, the Dawgs had four different players with ten or more rushing attempts. Zamir White had 16 for 68 yards, James Cook had 12 for 87 yards, Kendall Milton had 12 for 48 yards, and Kenny McIntosh had ten for 57 yards to lead the way for the Dawgs.

• Only five times this season has a team had four players with ten attempts each in a game. Twice in the Smart era has a Dawg team had three players (2016 at Ole Miss and 2020 at Missouri), but this was the first time in that era for four.

• The 273 yards rushing was Georgia's high this season and the most since the Missouri game last year.

• Milton had a touchdown among his 12 rushes. It was the first of his career.

• The 16 rush attempts by White was the most any Bulldog has had in a single game this season.

• White matched his career-high with two touchdown rushes (2020 vs. Auburn and 2020 at South Carolina). He also added a fumble recovery for a touchdown following a Dan Jackson blocked punt. It was just the fifth time a Georgia player has had three or more touchdowns in a game under Smart (not counting passing).

Here is a look at how all five running backs (including Daijun Edwards) have shared the carries this season.

One last thing about the Auburn series. The series has predominantly gone back-and-forth throughout the years. But since the 2002 game, the balance of the rivalry has changed. Georgia has won 15 of the last 20 in these meetings, and has won by the average score of 27.8 to 17.9. The last 11 games, the average is 28 to 14. Auburn has scored ten or fewer points in seven of the last 11 meetings.