Colby Wooden’s respect for Missouri has only grown the last two weeks.

A week removed from scrapping it out with Missouri for a 17-14 overtime win at Jordan-Hare Stadium, Wooden watched as Missouri had defending national champion and then-No. 1 Georgia on the ropes in Columbia, Mo., last Saturday. Missouri held a double-digit halftime lead against Georgia and was in front until late in the fourth quarter of an eventual 26-22 loss.

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To Wooden, it showed that Missouri wasn’t scared of the daunting challenge Georgia represented. If anything, it showed the Bulldogs are human and not just some inevitable force. That glimmer of vulnerability from Georgia provides some hope for Auburn in its upset aspirations this weekend, but the Bulldogs’ resiliency on the road last weekend also taught Wooden something about Auburn’s longstanding rival — there’s some bite behind the Bulldogs’ bark.

“Any time you have a bully on the block — if you stand up to them, nine times out of 10, they’re not going to want to fight back,” Wooden said. “But Georgia was able to fight back and find a way to win that game. So, kudos to them.”

Wooden and the rest of Auburn’s roster are bracing for a similar fight Saturday when the two cross-division rivals meet for the 127th iteration of The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry. No. 2 Georgia (5-0, 2-0 SEC) will host Auburn (3-2, 1-1) at 2:30 p.m. CT at Sanford Stadium, with the game airing on CBS.

Just about every indicator favors the Bulldogs ahead of Saturday’s clash between the hedges. Georgia is currently a 30-point favorite against Auburn, according to VegasInsider.com. The Bulldogs have won five in a row against the Tigers since Auburn’s regular-season win at Jordan-Hare Stadium in the 2017 meeting, with Georgia outscoring Auburn 137-47 during that stretch.

Auburn also hasn’t won in Athens, Ga., since 2005, returning home with a loss in each of the last seven trips to Sanford Stadium. Auburn has averaged just 12.6 points per game in those seven losses and has scored 10 points or fewer in each of its last five trips between the hedges.

Even with Georgia looking vulnerable the last two weeks against Kent State (a 39-22 win) and Missouri, the defending national champion’s on-field issues have paled in comparison to Auburn’s. The Tigers continue to struggle in the middle eight — the four minutes on either side of halftime — and the offense has failed to produce in the second half of games against quality competition. Not to mention the turnover issues that continue to plague Auburn, which carries the distinction of one of the nation’s worst turnover margins (minus-nine) entering Week 6.

Still, Wooden expects his team to show the same kind of resolve Missouri did heading into its matchup with Georgia—a fearlessness that was best personified by offensive lineman Brandon Council’s bravado this week, when he said Auburn’s offensive line “could demolish” Georgia’s defensive front and that the Tigers are approaching the assignment like “a SWAT team.”

“It’s going to be an old-fashioned fistfight,” Wooden said. “Roll up your sleeves, and let’s get it on.”

Wooden fully expects Georgia to make Saturday’s clash a battle in the trenches, with an eye on establishing the run game after a less-than-stellar effort on the ground against Missouri. Georgia had just 62 rushing yards on 20 attempts (3.1 yards per carry) through the first three quarters against Missouri last weekend but posted 107 yards and two touchdowns on 16 attempts (6.7 yards per carry) in the final period while pulling in front for the win.

“They’re looking to show dominance after last week, and they’re going to get back to their bread and butter, which is running the ball,” Wooden said. “Good old-fashioned counters, duos. All that. So, we’ve got to get back to our fundamentals and playing ball, recognizing your technique, playing behind your pads, you know, getting it on.”

Council expressed a similar outlook on the other side of the ball for Auburn, which is confident it will be able to attain success on the ground against Georgia despite some issues in the run game in recent weeks—and despite the fact the Tigers have averaged just 77 rushing yards per game during their five-game losing streak to the Bulldogs. During the seven-game skid in Athens, Auburn has mustered just 103.4 rushing yards per game.

“You’ve got to strap it up and go play your best,” Council said. “We have a chance to be 2-1 in the SEC and still competing in the West. That’s all it’s about and that’s our goal. We’re going to win, we want to win, and our goal is to get to the SEC Championship.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.