Whether by air or on the ground, Georgia's D'Andre Swift proved to be too much Saturday night.
In a 27-10 loss to the No. 5 Bulldogs, Auburn allowed a season-worst 516 yards. Swift accumulated 186 yards through 17 carries in addition to his 43 yards by air on four receptions.
While Georgia averaged 6.6 yards per rush, the 516 total yards by the Bulldogs are the most allowed by Auburn since a 2017 Sugar Bowl loss to Oklahoma.
To Auburn's Deshaun Davis, the Bulldog offense came as no surprise.
"They stuck with what they've been doing all year," Davis said. "Sometimes we weren't in the right spot and they have some great backs, and they could bounce it outside to get them probably about eight yards. They had their way tonight."
Separate from Swift's success, the Bulldogs took advantage on third down by converting on eight of 14 attempts. In comparison, Auburn converted three of 11 third-down attempts.
Despite JaTarvious Whitlow's first-quarter touchdown pass to give Auburn its first and only lead, the Tigers would fail to score following the first half.
"I think it was the entire offense who kind of tailed off in the second half," Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said. "The disappointing thing is we got across midfield a couple of times and needed to put some points on the board, and we weren't able to convert third downs."
Malzahn added that Whitlow wasn't "100 percent," but was "better than he was last week."
With 13 receptions for 72 yards, Ryan Davis became Auburn's all-time leader in catches with 165. Through just two years together, the Jarrett Stidham-to-Davis connection also became the most productive tandem in the program's history.
In the shadow of two broken records, Stidham completed 24-of-36 passes for 163 yards in the loss. On third-down attempts, however, Stidham was 3-of-7 for 27 yards while starting 0-of-3 through the team's first three attempts.
For Malzahn, the inability to hold off Georgia on third down complemented with Auburn's third-down blunders built a difficult hole for the Tigers to get out of.
"We didn't get off the field on third down," Malzahn said. "I think that's really the key to the deal."
With Nick Coe leaving the game with an injury and Big Kat Bryant disqualified by a targeting penalty, Auburn was forced to bring in walk-on Gary Walker for defensive sets.
Entering halftime with a 10-point deficit, Auburn's Daniel Thomas told the defense to keep holding Georgia out of the red zone.
“I was telling everyone to keep their heads up," Thomas said. "We’ve got to keep playing for each other and stay together.”
The Auburn defense did not progress, however, as Georgia would add 186 more rushing yards through the second half. Despite an interception on Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm by Jamel Dean, Auburn was unable to cut the deficit any further.
Now 6-4 on the season, Auburn looks ahead to a trip to top-ranked Alabama. While allowing 300-plus yards on the ground twice this season, Davis said the team has to make adjustments in order to have a chance.
"It's not just something that has to be fixed, it's something that we have to do," Davis said. "I don't know what the team next week is going to do, but I know two weeks from now if we don't stop the run we're going to be in trouble again."
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