Can Georgia's run defense corral Auburn?

The matchup of strength vs. strength might well decide Saturday’s outcome and determine whether Georgia reaches the SEC championship game.

“I think it’s going to be a tremendous test,” Georgia defensive end Abry Jones said of Auburn’s run game, which features the tailback tandem of Michael Dyer and Onterio McCalebb.

So far the Bulldogs have aced most of their tests against the run.

Georgia ranks No. 8 nationally in rushing defense — an extraordinary leap from No. 56 last season. A year after allowing 147 rushing yards per game, the Bulldogs are allowing 91.1. They have held two SEC opponents to negative rushing yardage, Tennessee to minus-21 and Florida to minus-19.

Comparing Georgia’s run defense this season with last season’s, Auburn coach Gene Chizik said: “I think it’s night and day.”

Chizik continued: “They’re very physical in the run game; their run fits have improved tremendously. That generally happens under a new coordinator in his second year, [when] what you’re doing comes with a much greater comfort level.”

Said Todd Grantham, Georgia’s second-year defensive coordinator: “The biggest thing is the players have developed a mental and physical toughness to play every play as hard as they can. ... You factor that in with them understanding the system and believing in what we’re doing and buying in.”

Grantham credits the run defense for another statistical surge: Georgia ranks No. 3 nationally in third-down defense, up from No. 79 last season. Opponents have converted 28 percent of the time this season vs. 42 percent last year.

“When you’re hard to run on and you create more third-and-longs, then your third-down defense gets better, too,” Grantham said.

In last year’s 49-31 loss to Auburn, Georgia allowed 315 yards rushing, 151 of them produced by quarterback Cam Newton. Although Newton now is in the NFL, Georgia’s defensive players and coaches find plenty to fret in the Tigers’ fast-paced offense.

“They’re going to test you with their formations and the pace at which they do things,” Grantham said. “And they’ve got two really good running backs.”

Dyer, a 5-9, 210-pound sophomore, is on the cusp of a second consecutive 1,000-yard season, having already run for 989. McCalebb, a 5-10, 174-pound junior, has run for 448 yards this season and 1,823 in his career. Against Georgia last year, Dyer ran for 60 yards and McCalebb for 71 and three touchdowns.

“Those guys are players,” UGA linebacker Michael Gilliard said. “Dyer, he’s a downhill runner who can make you miss. McCalebb, he’s a speedster who definitely can make you miss in the perimeter. The main thing is to tackle well and run to the ball because their offense is tricky.”

Georgia’s improvement against the run started on the line, which became bigger and stouter because 350-pound nose guards Kwame Geathers and John Jenkins allowed DeAngelo Tyson, last year’s nose, to join Jones as the ends.

“As D-linemen, we all took it upon ourselves to know that when people get run yards, it’s a personal strike against us,” Jones said. “For teams to run the ball, they really have to block us, so we pretty much had to take the attitude that we can’t be blocked.”

“If you can get those [linemen] eating up a couple of blockers,” coach Mark Richt said, “all of a sudden your linebackers start doing extremely well. ... The other thing is the run support from the safeties has been big.”

So far so good. But Auburn will provide the strongest test for Georgia’s run defense since South Carolina, which had 253 yards rushing, including 176 by Marcus Lattimore, in a 45-42 victory Sept. 10. Georgia has won seven consecutive games since then, allowing no individual and only two teams to run for 100 yards.