Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze didn’t beat around the bush heading into last week’s visit to Texas A&M.

“It’s a great challenge,” Freeze said. “We’ve got to get some young guys ready. They’re going to get baptized into the SEC pretty good in front of A&M’s crowd and the talent on that team.”

Freeze knew he had a lot of guys on his roster that had never played in a hostile environment full of crazed SEC football fans like they’d see at Texas A&M’s Kyle Field – his starting quarterback being one of them.

Now, to say all of Payton Thorne’s struggles were the result of the Aggies’ crowd would be a stretch. There was a lot going wrong for Thorne and the Auburn offense Saturday.

But the crowd and atmosphere at Texas A&M — where Thorne made his first start in the SEC — was likely still a factor.

And that’s worth noting as a fellow unproven SEC quarterback comes to Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday.

Like Thorne, Georgia’s Carson Beck might be a junior, but he’s only in his first season as a starting quarterback in the SEC.

Beck has four starts under his belt this year and has had the luxury of playing each of them within the confines of Georgia’s Sanford Stadium. And that begs the question: Will Beck be ready for the stage that is Pat Dye Field on Saturday?

“I think that’s something we’re going to find out. I don’t think you know,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said during his press conference Monday. “I’m very confident in Carson’s ability to communicate, to understand things… he’s been in our system. You only get good at these situational football things by playing football for a long time. And he’s been with us for a while doing it and this is his first chance to do it on the road.”

Unlike Thorne, Beck isn’t new to this league. In his first three seasons in Athens, Beck watched from the sidelines as Stetson Bennett piloted the Bulldogs to a pair of national championships.

That means Beck experienced his first game at Jordan-Hare during in front of a capacity crowd during the 2021 season. The second-ranked Bulldogs walked over the 18th-ranked Tigers 34-10 that day as Bennett passed for more than 230 yards and two touchdowns.

“He’s been on these road trips,” Smart said of Beck during the SEC coaches’ teleconference Wednesday. “Obviously he hasn’t played, hasn’t been out there. But he’s been on them. He’s seen the environment.”

But Beck’s experience from the sideline in 2021 is far different than what he’ll experience come Saturday when he trots onto the field for the first time.

It’s pretty standard for coaches to request the help of a program’s fans leading into a home game. But in the case of this weekend Freeze’s plea to Tigers’ fans is likely as genuine as ever.

“Thank God we’re in Jordan-Hare,” Freeze said Monday.

Georgia having a young, inexperienced quarterback and playing in a rambunctious place like Jordan-Hare Stadium could be the top-ranked Bulldogs’ Achilles Heel – especially considering Georgia is dealing with a pretty banged up crew of running backs, meaning it might lean on the passing game a bit more.

Georgia running backs Kendall Milton and Roderick Robinson both missed last week’s game against UAB as Milton is still working through a MCL sprain and Robinson is working through an ankle sprain. Smart said this week that Milton has been able to practice some, while Robinson has remained pretty limited.

In the absence of Milton and Robinson, the Bulldogs have looked to Daijun Edwards, Dillon Bell and Cash Jones.

Edwards is Georgia’s leading rusher to this point with 32 carries for 184 yards and three touchdowns – including a career-high 118 yards against South Carolina earlier this season.

And until last week when Auburn’s defense was gassed in the second half against Texas A&M, the Tigers’ defense has been able to limit the damage of their opponents’ ground game. Prior to last week’s loss in College Station, the Tigers’ defense averaged giving up just 109 rushing yards per game.

Granted, the caliber of opponents was much different than the challenge the Aggies presented and surely what the Bulldogs will present on Saturday.

Nonetheless, should the Auburn defense stifle Georgia’s run game and force a young Carson Beck to throw the ball around the yard, the Bulldogs’ offense might find that it’s having some trouble moving the chains.

The Tigers’ defensive backfield — though thin right now — ranks as one of the best in the league.

Auburn’s defense has allowed just 658 yards through the air, which ranks them 17th in the country and third in the SEC.

The Tigers have also been able to force eight turnovers on the season, which ties Arkansas for first in the SEC. Six of those turnovers have come by way of interceptions with veteran safety Jaylin Simpson leading the charge with three picks on the year.

Last week in College Station was the first game this season in which Simpson didn’t record an interception, so some might say he’s due for another on Saturday.

The guys on Auburn’s defense certainly have the potential to create issues for top-ranked Georgia on Saturday.

And a rambunctious crowd at Jordan-Hare would only help their efforts.

Georgia’s Smart said that every stadium in the SEC is “loud as hell”. But through countless visits to Auburn as a player and coach, he knows Jordan-Hare can be a different beast when brimming over.

“Auburn does an incredible job, the fanbase and the atmosphere they create,” Smart said. “Every game I’ve ever played there has never disappointed.”