Auburn has suffered their eighth loss of the season, falling to rival Georgia 38-0 in this year's edition of the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry.
The visiting Bulldogs (9-1, 7-1 SEC), who needed a win to clinch the league's eastern division title and a spot in the SEC Championship Game, came into Jordan-Hare Stadium and took care of business against a struggling Auburn (2-8, 0-7 SEC) team.
"Georgia is a very good football team," said head coach Gene Chizik. "We didn't play very well tonight in any phase of the game, and the score pretty much indicated that."
The loss marks the first time since the 2008 Iron Bowl that the Tigers have been shut out, and it was also the worst shutout loss Auburn has had since 1980.
"We just didn't finish," quarterback Jonathan Wallace said. "We didn't finish our drives. We made mistakes. We didn't capitalize on opportunities."
Wallace, who made the first SEC start of his career, was 15-of-22 for 181 yards and one interception. Unfortunately for the true freshman signal caller, the Tigers were held to just 57 yards on the ground, placing a lot of the offensive burden on his shoulders.
On the other side of the ball, Auburn allowed 497 yards to a balanced yet explosive Georgia attack. Quarterback Aaron Murray threw for 208 yards while the Bulldog running backs combined for 238 yards on the ground.
The Auburn defense gave up four touchdowns to the Bulldogs on five drives in the first half, putting the Tigers in a 28-0 hole heading into the locker room.
"Any game has its ups and downs," defensive tackle Jeff Whitaker said. "We did some things early that, unfortunately, we were unable to recover from."
The Bulldogs started the second half right where they left off, getting a field goal and a touchdown on their first two possessions. But the Tigers would step up defensively after Georgia running back Ken Malcome's 62-yard scoring run, preventing the Bulldogs from scoring for the final 20 minutes of action.
While the Auburn defense slowed down the Georgia offense in the second half, the offense had two promising drives end with turnovers. After two big receiving plays, Emory Blake, who led all receivers with 104 yards, fumbled the football deep inside Georgia territory. On the Tigers' next drive, Wallace overthrew Blake in the middle of the field for a Bacarri Rambo interception.
From that point on, the two teams traded punts until the clock hit all zeroes.
Even after a painful loss to a rival late in the year, the message from the players was clear after the game: this football team has not given up on the season.
"We have to get back out there and go to work," said defensive end Nosa Eguae. "We have to work hard and make sure we send the seniors out with a win."
Auburn will play their final home game of the 2012 season next week against Alabama A&M. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
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