Auburn to unveil new statues for legendary head coaches Friday

Auburn is set to unveil their newest statues outside of Jordan-Hare Stadium this Saturday, in an unveiling ceremony for statues of legendary Auburn football coaches. Auburn will honor the legacies of three cornerstone figures in Ralph “Shug” Jordan, Cliff Hare and Pat Dye with their newest statues.

Auburn statues to former coaches

Auburn announced that they had commissioned the statues in early 2020, and they will be unveiled Friday to the public. The unveiling is expected to be standing room only for those who attend.

There will be a ceremony before the unveiling that will invite former players to share memories of coaches Jordan and Dye. Former Auburn athletic director David Housel will speak at the ceremony about Dean Hare’s contributions to the Auburn football program. Family members for all three honorees will be present to accept the recognition.

“Coach Jordan, Coach Dye and Dean Cliff Hare are most deserving of this esteemed honor,” Auburn athletics director Allen Greene said in a statement. “Their extraordinary contributions created the foundation on which Auburn’s football program has ascended.”

“These statues will serve as visible reminders of their commitment to Auburn, inspiring the Auburn Family for generations.”

All three honorees have their names already intertwined with the Tigers’ stadium. The Cliff Hare Stadium was renamed in 1973 to honor Ralph Jordan by naming it the Jordan-Hare Stadium. Auburn named their field the Pat Dye Field in 2005.

The statues will be placed at the corner of Heisman Drive and Donahue Drive near where the football team enters the stadium through Tiger Walk.

Auburn 15-point underdog against Georgia

Auburn opened as a 15-point betting underdog on Sunday for the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry against No. 2 Georgia, per the Vegas Insider Consensus. The over-under opened at 51.5 points, but has already dropped to 45 points in a matter of hours.

Auburn will host Georgia at 2:30 p.m. CT on CBS, as the Tigers look to beat Georgia for the first time since the end of the 2017 regular season. Early betting places 91 percent of the money going to Georgia to cover.

“We’re going to enjoy this,” Bryan Harsin said. “We’re going to get on the plane and get home, it’s going to be late and then we’ve got to turn around and get right back to work, but we’re going to enjoy the LSU win. And we’re going to enjoy the things we did this week to come in here and find a way to win this ball game.”

Georgia’s defense is so good, the Bulldogs have scored more points on defense than they’ve allowed. The Georgia defense has allowed just 110 passing yards per game, 70.6 rushing yards per game, and a minuscule 4.6 points per game. If quarterback Stetson Bennett completed just seven of 11 passes for 72 yards against Arkansas, but the Auburn secondary may be the most beatable part of their defense (121st in the country, 213 passing yards per game).

And while the Georgia defense is allowing 4.6 points per game, Auburn is only allowing 16 points per game. That’s why the under has fallen so sharply, so quickly.

Auburn is 2-2 against the spread this season, with two overs and two unders. Georgia has won 15 of the last 20 in this rivalry. Auburn has only been within one score in six of those 15 losses.

On3’s Justin Hokanson contributed to this article.