Georgia was lucky, then good in victory at Auburn
AUBURN, Ala. — Brock Bowers saved Georgia the last time the Bulldogs came here. They don’t have great players like him anymore. They also didn’t have a coaching plan to maximize their many good players for the first 28 minutes at Auburn.
So, this time, the Bulldogs were looking for a miracle to save them at Auburn. They got one when replay officials confirmed that Auburn quarterback Jackson Arnold fumbled before he crossed the goal line late in the first half.
The Bulldogs recovered, scored their first points before halftime and then went on to win 20-10 on Saturday night at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
They say that sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. The Bulldogs were both.
They were lucky to even be in the game at halftime. They were good enough to outscore the Tigers 17-0 after the break.
“We’ll never quit,” Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton said. “That’s why they give you four quarters. We didn’t play the way we wanted to, but at the end of the day, a win is a win.”
Kirby Smart seemed to be more excited about it than anyone. Georgia’s coach broke out into wild celebrations after earning his eighth consecutive victory against Auburn, including three in a row on the road.
It turned out that Smart’s emotions were about more than the game. He said he took his son, Andrew, to Holtville, Alabama (also known as Slapout) on Saturday. Smart said he wanted to show his son the baseball field there that’s named for Kirby’s father.
Sonny Smart died in January.
“I grew up coming to Auburn, so this place has always been very unique to me,” Smart said. “They play on the video board me talking about Jordan-Hare, so I’ll give them another sound bite. It’s a great place. … I’m proud of those guys in the room. It’s emotional for me because (of) my father being from here and a lot of his family went to Auburn.”
A Georgia postgame celebration seemed unlikely when Arnold ran 27 yards to Georgia’s 4-yard line just before the two-minute timeout in the first half. The Tigers led 10-0 at the time. They’d dominated the game.
Everything changed three plays later.
It looked to me like Arnold reached the ball across the goal line before CJ Allen punched it out (Raylen Wilson also appeared to get a piece) and Kyron Jones recovered. The officials on the field and in the replay booth disagreed. Smart was on the field as the play unfolded, pointing at Jones as he ran to the other end zone.
Smart desperately hoped Arnold had fumbled the ball. Otherwise, the Bulldogs would be in a three-score deficit that they’d shown no indication of being able to overcome.
“We always say they are not in (the end zone) until they are in,” Allen said. “It was definitely a momentum swing.”
Georgia got the ball inside its own 1-yard line and moved it to Auburn’s side of the field for the first time all game. The Bulldogs ended the drive with a field goal. They somehow trailed by just a touchdown. They were getting the ball first after halftime.
“That’s a huge swing in the game,” Smart said. “We didn’t just get given a field goal. We had to go get it. … That gave us juice and light that we needed.”
It turns out Arnold’s touchdown wouldn’t have been enough for the Tigers because the Bulldogs shut them out after halftime. Once again, Georgia’s defense struggled to get stops early before finding its footing later.
Auburn had the Bulldogs on their heels from the beginning. They had no clue how to stop Auburn’s high-tempo, quick passing game. Tigers running backs darted through plentiful space. The Bulldogs couldn’t block Auburn’s pass rushers or run stoppers.
Auburn gained 237 yards in the first half and Georgia had 78. Auburn converted eight of 11 third downs while Georgia was 0-for-4. The Tigers ran 44 plays to 23 for Georgia.
“They outplayed us: momentum, tempo, run game,” Smart said. “Stopped us running the ball, really, the first half. Frustrating, but the kids never quit. And that’s never more evident than the punch-out on the goal line.”
The play gave the Bulldogs a spark. It seemed to deflate the Tigers.
Auburn coach Hugh Freeze berated referee Ken Williamson as he walked off the field at halftime.
“We should be up more,” Freeze said during an interview with ESPN before halftime. “We dominated the first half. That may be the longest half of football ever. I don’t know how many timeouts that Georgia got with all the stoppages.
“Don’t have no clue how that (ball) doesn’t break the plane. We are due a break, maybe, one of these damn times.”
The Tigers had been burned by a blown call during a 24-17 loss at Oklahoma on Sept. 20. The SEC admitted that game officials should not have allowed a Sooners touchdown in the first half. Now, Freeze’s team was in a tight game after officials ruled Arnold fumbled before he scored.
Georgia’s offense still needed some time to get on track. The Bulldogs turned the ball over on downs to end their first possession after halftime. The Tigers gave the ball back when a receiver dropped Arnold’s fourth-down pass beyond the first-down marker.
The Bulldogs scored five plays later. Stockton passed for 30 yards to Noah Thomas before Chauncey Bowens ran 2 yards for a touchdown to tie the score. Auburn followed with a three-and-out. Somehow, the Bulldogs controlled the game.
They took their first lead with a nine-play drive that ended with a field goal. Auburn followed with another three-and-out. Georgia missed a field goal to end its next drive. Arnold missed an open receiver beyond midfield two plays later.
The Tigers punted the ball back to the Bulldogs, who started at their 22-yard line with 10:38 left in the game. They made it to Auburn’s side of the field by converting two third downs. Smart decided to go for it on fourth-and-3, and Stockton passed to London Humphreys for 8 yards.
Stockton passed to Nate Frazier for 6 yards on third-and-1 with three minutes to go, then ran for a 10-yard touchdown three plays later. The 16-play drive took 8:45. Auburn fans started quietly filing out of the stadium. They’d witnessed another Bulldogs victory in their house.
This game seemed hopeless for Georgia until Arnold lost the ball just before (or just after) the goal line. The Bulldogs got lucky on that call. They were good after it.
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