For most SEC football teams, the goal at the beginning of every season is to get to Atlanta, site of the conference championship game. Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the year-old home of the Falcons and Atlanta United FC, also hosts big non-conference games and last year was the site of the College Football Playoff national championship game—fittingly between a pair of SEC teams, Alabama and Georgia.
Auburn beat the Crimson Tide and the Bulldogs last season, but both wins came at Jordan-Hare Stadium, where the Tigers went 7–0 in 2017. They have been less lucky an hour and a half up Interstate 85.