Auburn didn’t score any second-half points in consecutive weeks headed into Saturday’s 2:30 CT game against No. 2 Georgia on CBS at Sanford Stadium. Bryan Harsin’s squad beat Missouri 17-14 in overtime and had a chance in the fourth quarter to overcome blowing a 17-point lead against LSU.

The Tigers held LSU to 85 passing yards. Auburn clamped down in the second half by allowing fewer than 10 yards through the air to keep the Tigers in the game.

Defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding wanted the Tigers to become more aggressive on defense. His unit didn’t get its first turnover until the fourth game of the season against Missouri. Derick Hall leaped into the air and picked off a pass on Missouri’s first possession of the game with Auburn ahead 7-0 and ran it back 20 yards to set Auburn up for a second touchdown.

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Auburn’s second turnover came on an improbable play. Keionte Scott was trying to catch Missouri running back Nathaniel Peat near the end zone. Peat saw Scott coming and tried to switch hands. Peat dropped the ball, and Cayden Bridges sealed the win with an end zone fumble-recovery.

A potentially colossal play was the third turnover created by Auburn. Scott muffed a punt late in the fourth quarter with Auburn down by the eventual 21-17 final score. Neither team had scored since LSU’s go-ahead touchdown in the middle of the third quarter. Tigers’ safety Donovan Kaufman stripped LSU running back John Emery with a little under six minutes left in the game. Defensive lineman and Oregon transfer Jayson Jones recovered the fumble for Auburn.

Robby Ashford’s interception with 2:35 left at the LSU 25 ended the hopes of an Auburn comeback. The Tigers held LSU to 28 yards in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough to win. Schmedding’s defense will need to match the performance and likely exceed it to have a chance of beating the heavily favored defending national champion Bulldogs.

“Coach Schmedding mentioned Tuesday that we hadn’t played our best ball. I mean, yeah, we held the last two opponents to 14 points, but we still haven’t played our best ball,” Auburn defender Colby Wooden told reporters on Wednesday during a press conference. “We can do much better and create more turnovers, get our offense the ball back more. We’ve played well, but we haven’t played dominantly. And I think that’s the key — play dominantly.”

Georgia averages 521.4 yards of total offense and scores 39.0 points per game. Stetson Bennett throws for over 300 yards a game, and the Bulldogs run for 178.6 yards on average.

Auburn’s defense has been stout, other than the third quarter against Penn State, where the Tigers got outscored 17-0 en route to a 29-point loss. Wooden knows the Bulldogs will be the toughest test for his squad so far this season.

“They want to run the ball. It’s gonna be between the hedges, CBS, primetime game,” Wooden said. “They are looking to show dominance after last week, and they’re gonna get back to their bread and butter, which is running the ball. Good old-fashioned counters, duos. All that. So we’ve gotta get back to our fundamentals and playing ball, recognizing your technique, playing behind your pads, you know, getting it on.”

As if playing Georgia isn’t enough of a headache, the Tigers will be without Edge rusher Eku Leota for the rest of the season with a torn pec. Leota had two sacks and five tackles for loss. He is one of the emotional leaders of the team. Marcus Bragg filled in for Leota during the LSU game and had a sack with four tackles in the loss.

“Eku’s a big loss, and this has nothing to do with anybody behind him; it’s just he’s an emotional leader, he’s one of the smartest football players we have,” Harsin said. “I mean, he is a guy that you want on your team—how he prepares, all the things he does, the respect he has for his team.

Auburn will switch up a bit on defense by removing Leota’s position. The Tigers were using two edge rushers with Hall and Leota. Instead, they’ll pivot to a 4-2-5 grouping — with one edge defender.

“We’ll see what that looks like as we put the packages in and who we have to utilize,” Harsin said about replacing Leota. “We still want to get the best front seven we have out on the field, especially against what Georgia does — they run the ball effectively, alright, they obviously can throw it; you got to get pressure on the quarterback. If you give him too much time, those guys create out in the open space.”

Nubyjas Wilborn covers Auburn for Alabama Media Group.