Auburn dropped its eighth straight game to the Bulldogs as Georgia snagged its first SEC victory of the year and 27th straight home win at Sanford Stadium on Saturday afternoon. All season Auburn had been hurt by a collection of turnovers but, it was not the story against the Bulldogs. Instead the inability to capitalize and match Georgia’s offense caused them to fall to 2-4 on the season.
Throughout the first half of the game the Bulldogs’ defense neutralized Auburn’s offense holding them to just 147 yards with a good bit of those yards coming from Keandre Lambert-Smith’s 53 receiving yards. The Tigers suffered two big sacks on first down both on the opening play of the first drive and on the second drive near midfield.
The Tigers would bounce back following the second sack with the help of a big third down reception from Lambert-Smith and a chunk run by Jarquez Hunter. Unfortunately for Auburn, it was unable to capitalize in the red zone stopped well short on a third down quarterback draw forcing a field goal.
In the following quarter of work Auburn’s offense took a step back as it could only muster 62 yards over three drives in the quarter — the last drive was cut short due to halftime. The Tigers’ attempted a field goal as time expired in the half hoping to cut Georgia’s lead to one score but the 54-yard attempt was blocked by Georgia’s Dan Jackson.
In the third quarter Auburn would get a quick three and out stop and get the ball for their first possession after half. This drive proved to be the most promising as Auburn’s rushing attack on the possession would combine for six plays and 68 yards all coming via the ground. Quarterback Payton Thorne had 25 yards while Hunter amassed 43 yards and the lone touchdown of the game for the Tigers.
Thorne and the offense would end up making one more trip to the red zone the rest of the game where they could only manage a field goal. So far this season the Tigers have made 18 trips to the red zone where they have only been able to score a touchdown seven total times with one-third of their trips resulting in no scoring at all.
“There’s not going to be a perfect game” Payton Thorne said regarding the offensive miscues. “You go into every game knowing that. (we) Didn’t play good enough to win today…(we)did a decent job putting the first drive together at the start of the third but didn’t play well enough to win”
Thorne ended up posting a 16-for-27 day with 200 passing yards to pair with the team’s 137 rush yards. The offense also struggled to convert third and fourth downs as they went just five for 15 total in those situations with four of them happening within 30 yards of Georgia’s endzone.
As previously mentioned, the offense took great care of the ball but when faced with a top five opponent like Georgia you must capitalize on all opportunities and move the ball more efficiently down the field and Thorne acknowledged this.
The Tigers are set to head into their first of two bye weeks this year as they prepare to face Missouri on the road in two weeks. The Auburn offense has seen tremendous improvement in turnover numbers when facing its first two ranked opponents but now can the Tigers improve through moving the ball down the field consistently and finishing promising drives in the red zone.
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Reid is a freshman, exploratory major. He joined the Plainsman in the fall of 2024.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @ReidFarris2
