Alex Golesh proud Auburn didn’t flinch in taking down No. 1 Georgia

ATHENS — First-year Auburn coach Alex Golesh got the cornerstone win he was hoping for at Georgia, knocking off the No. 1-ranked Bulldogs 27-24.

The Tigers (4-2, 2-2 SEC) entered the game on a nine-game losing streak in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry series with Georgia as 20½-point underdogs and quickly fell behind 14-0.

“The composure from our guys was really big, I told them at halftime I’m proud of them not flinching down 14-0,” said Golesh, who watched Auburn rally with 17 second-quarter points to take a 3-point lead into halftime.

“I give these guys a lot of credit for continuing to believe in each other, continuing to believe in what we’re building, continuing to buy into their process and just continuing to fight. That’s how you build a program.”

Georgia (6-1, 4-1) looked to tear all that down with a fourth-quarter rally, tying the score at 24 on London Humphreys’ 4-yard TD catch from Gunner Stockton with 2:58 left, and the Bulldogs were driving for game-winning points when Stockton fumbled at the Auburn 44 with 58 seconds remaining.

Tigers quarterback Byrum Brown, who was 15-of-26 passing and a TD and added 115 yards rushing and a TD on 26 carries, took care of business from there by driving Auburn down to the UGA 16-yard line, setting up Alex McPherson’s 34-yard game-winning field goal as time expired.

“The story of the game is three takeaways defensively,” Golesh said. “None were bigger than the one at the very end there, and (we) did not turn it over offensively.”

Golesh said he didn’t want to make too much of the victory, as Auburn plays host to LSU at noon next Saturday.

But at the same time, “you need moments like that to get ultimate buy-in; I think we needed that.”