Will QB's history repeat?

ATHENS, Ga. — About this time a year ago, Matthew Stafford was a mess of a freshman quarterback. He wasn't always sure where to throw the ball. He was winging it with the play-calling. And his passes kept going to the wrong team.

Then — suddenly — it all clicked.

Stafford stepped onto the field at Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium, facing a championship-minded team ranked No. 5 and a nearly two-touchdown favorite. Over the next three-plus hours, he delivered the sort of performance that everyone in red and black had been longing to see from one of the nation's most heralded recruits.

With one game, Stafford turned his career around. Today, he'll get a chance to face the Tigers again in a bit of role reversal.

"His best is yet to come," coach Mark Richt promised.

These days, Stafford is a calm and collected sophomore who's helped position No. 10 Georgia for a run at another Southeastern Conference championship. But the Bulldogs (7-2, 4-2) will have to get by 18th-ranked Auburn, which has been eyeing this game ever since its humiliating 37-15 loss last season.

"It was just a bad game all around," Tigers quarterback Brandon Cox said. "This is one we've had circled for a whole year. We're just ready to get back out there and play them again."

To claim a spot in the SEC title game, Georgia needs to win its final two conference games — Auburn and next week's home finale against Kentucky — and hope that Tennessee loses one of its final three conference games, which are against Arkansas, Vanderbilt and Kentucky. The Vols hold a tiebreaker edge over the Bulldogs because of their 35-14 win in Knoxville last month.

Auburn (7-3, 4-2) is virtually eliminated in the SEC West, needing to win out against Georgia and Alabama while first-place LSU would have to lose both its remaining conference games against lowly Mississippi and Arkansas. A tie in the division would do Auburn no good because of its last-second loss at LSU three weeks ago.

Still, the Tigers don't have to be in the title hunt to get fired up for the Deep South's longest-running rivalry. This is the 111th meeting between the schools, and the closeness of the series is demonstrated by the total scores: Georgia leads by all of 20 points, 1,685-1,665.

Since Auburn recruits heavily in its neighboring state, these teams know each other as well as anyone.

"I grew up a Georgia fan," said Auburn linebacker Tray Blackmon, a native of LaGrange, about 15 miles east of the Alabama line. "I'm for them until we play them."

The dividing line of Stafford's development falls directly on last year's game against Auburn.