AUBURN, Ala. - Carnell Williams gives a brutally candid assessment of Auburn’s last run-in with Georgia.

“It was disgusting,” he said.

So disgusting, in fact, that the Tigers apparently decided they wanted to lose that losing feeling. They’ve won 11 consecutive games since that 26-7 humbling on Nov. 15, 2003, when the offense was a mess and the defense wasn’t good enough to compensate.

The third-ranked Tigers (9-0, 6-0 Southeastern Conference) haven’t had much cause since then to revisit that painful game. Now they do: Saturday’s rematch with the eighth-ranked Bulldogs (8-1, 6-1), with Auburn’s national championship hopes on the line.

“We didn’t play too well and we basically got outmanned, outphysicalled,” said Williams, Auburn’s leading rusher. “They just beat us in every phase of the game. I felt like after that game, we didn’t want to lose that way anymore.”

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That loss dropped the preseason league favorites to 6-5, prompting Auburn officials to consider replacing coach Tommy Tuberville. It supplied a perfect illustration of the issues that plagued the Tigers a year ago: no offensive identity, too many mistakes and not enough fight.

This Auburn team provides a stark contrast to the 2003 version that floundered around Sanford Stadium. The Tigers couldn’t run much and, surprisingly, hardly tried.

Tailbacks Williams and Ronnie Brown had two rushes apiece before halftime, putting much of the load on quarterback Jason Campbell, who struggled then but has been terrific ever since.

The defeat followed a disheartening loss to Mississippi.

“It was just a disaster,” said Campbell, whose fourth-quarter interception was returned 99 yards by Odell Thurman. “To get beat the way we did last year wasn’t Auburn football. It wasn’t us. It had a lot to do with how we got beat by Ole Miss the week before that.”

Now, Campbell is the nation’s third-rated passer and the team has deftly mixed the run and pass under new offensive coordinator Al Borges.

The defense has allowed the second-fewest points in the nation, behind Wisconsin, and the offense leads the league in scoring.

The resurgence began immediately after the Georgia loss, with wins over Alabama and in the Music City Bowl against Wisconsin.

“It makes you play better, not wanting to feel that again, how we lost, how we played,” Campbell said. “I think that’s driven this team. You want to have a good taste in your mouth, not a bad taste.

“It’s not good when you walk around and hear things. What we were hearing last year was just awful.”

Bad as that was, Campbell said it still didn’t top the 2002 Georgia game for sheer agony. That’s when David Greene hit Michael Johnson for a touchdown on fourth-and-15 for a 24-21 win at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

That loss bumped Auburn from the rankings and ended their hopes of an SEC Western Division title.

“I think it hurt us the most out of all the close ones we lost because it would have given us a chance to go to Atlanta and play in the SEC championship,” Campbell said. “It hurt because it was a fourth-down play.

“He caught it in the back of the end zone, one step from being out. The way we lost it, that kind of hurt.”