​At the end of a profanity-filled postgame speech leaked after Georgia’s football’s win at Alabama Saturday night—audio that Kirby Smart said he preferred had not been put on social media—the Bulldogs coach mentioned building off of it.“This team, man, are you going to take this and grow from it?” Smart said. “The naysayers said they couldn’t go there and win and they ain’t played nobody.”Alabama certainly was a step up in competition, a team the Bulldogs traded haymakers with all night in a 20-17 victory.The challenge for Georgia (6-0, 4-0 SEC) this week is to turn the page from an opponent that now feels like a rivalry to many to one that has been one of the biggest and is its longest in Auburn.This is the 131st meeting between the schools some 180 miles apart.Auburn (4-2, 1-2) will have a fourth different head coach on the sideline since Smart came aboard in Athens.Smart has gone up against Gus Malzahn, Bryan Harsin, Hugh Freeze and now will face Alex Golesh.The Tigers are ranked No. 33 on ESPN’s SP+, which puts it 11th in the SEC and below an Oklahoma team that Georgia rolled past three weeks ago.The Tigers had an open date on their schedule last week, giving the players a break from the grind and coaches more of a chance to evaluate how to get better.“They’re coming off an off week, and we’re coming off a really tough physical game,” Smart said. “It will be really important that the mindset and the approach to the game is right because they want to make it physical the way they play.” Georgia vs. Auburn predictionsGeorgia is No. 1 ranked for the first time since September of 2024.It moved to that spot a day after top-ranked Texas was upset by unranked Oklahoma.Two other top 15 SEC teams also went down to unranked foes: No. 10 LSU to Kentucky and No. 15 Florida to South Carolina.Smart alluded to those results when talking about the challenge Auburn presents.“They have a lot of talent,” Smart said. “They’ve got good football players, and it’s any given Saturday in this conference, as we see every week.”Auburn is missing perhaps its most valuable piece.Linebacker Xavier Atkins, a second-team All-American in 2025, won’t play.Golesh didn’t disclose why saying that would be kept “in-house,” and his status would be revisited next week.AuburnSports reported Atkins has had disciplinary issues centered on being late to or missing mandatory meetings and practice habits were also a factor.Georgia players have said putting the last game behind them is just part of what they do.“We try to focus on being consistent,” linebacker Justin Williams said. “You know you can’t be too high or too low. You have to be right in the middle.”Georgia vs. Auburn scouting reportWhy Georgia has an advantage: Auburn quarterback Byrum Brown ranks 14th in the SEC in passing efficiency and has as many interceptions as touchdowns with 7 each. “We’ve got the right plan in place to go attack them,” he told reporters in Auburn