‘Untimely, undisciplined, uncharacteristic’ mistakes gave Auburn edge over UGA

ATHENS — This season, Kirby Smart has repeatedly reiterated that the ‘Dawgs don’t beat the Dawgs.’

However, Georgia did just that in a 27-24 upset loss to Auburn.

The Bulldogs outgained Auburn 440-366 on the night. Georgia had more first downs and fewer penalties. But Georgia turned the ball over three times to Auburn’s zero. And the penalties Georgia had were ruinous.

“We helped them,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “We gave them three turnovers and some really critical, undisciplined penalties. Like I say, humility is a week away. Auburn played better than us today, executed better than us today, didn’t turn the ball over and hit the red area plays. We had some really, really untimely, undisciplined, uncharacteristic penalties.”

Auburn’s lone second-half touchdown came after a roughing-the-pass penalty on Josh Horton and a defensive pass interference penalty that gifted the Tigers 30 yards. Byrum Brown capped the drive to give Auburn a 24-14 lead.

Then, late in the game, Gabe Harris Jr. committed a more egregious roughing-the-passer penalty that would have turned a tricky Auburn field goal into a gimme.

“The undisciplined penalty is probably the most disappointing thing, because we talk a lot about it,” Smart said. “We showed, on Friday night, we showed the roughing of passers that were calling on our lead all over it, and said, this is what you can’t do. It takes great restraint not to do it, but we didn’t have great restraint.”

While the penalties were most frustrating to Smart, the turnovers were just as painful.

For the first time in Gunner Stockton’s career, he was picked off multiple times. The first came as Stockton tried to needle a ball into London Humphreys, only for AnQuon Fegans to snatch it out of the air. The second, Stockton had Ethan Barbour open in the flat, only to sail the ball into the arms of Auburn linebacker Elijah Melendez.

Both interceptions came in Auburn territory. The second was with Georgia trailing 24-14 in the third quarter.

Yet Stockton rallied Georgia back, tying the game at 24 in the fourth quarter. He appeared to have snapped out of whatever was ailing him — Stockton briefly left the game in the first quarter with a shoulder injury — as he led Georgia on a 94-yard touchdown drive where Stockton accounted for all 94 yards.

The Georgia quarterback got the ball back at the Georgia 39-yard line with the chance to lead a game-winning drive.

Which made his fourth-quarter fumble, recovered by Auburn, all the more excruciating.

“I just got to protect the ball,” Stockton said. “You know, at the end of the day, you’ve got to (have) ball security. It’s everybody’s livelihood. So I just got to protect the ball.”

While Stockton’s performance will be the subject of much criticism, Georgia’s defense also struggled, allowing Brown to finish with 26 carries for 115 yards and a touchdown.

By comparison, he threw for only 150 yards on 26 pass attempts.

“Yeah, he’s a good player. Hat’s off to him,” linebacker Chris Cole said. “We had some missed opportunities on him, tackling him. He’s more of a bigger frame, so you have to make sure you wrap up on him. I thought we missed a lot of opportunities today.”

Even with the loss, Georgia still has a clear path to the College Football Playoff. Five top-eight teams lost on Saturday, the most ever in the AP Poll era, which dates back to 1936.

The Bulldogs have an off week where they need to get healthy. ahead of games against Florida and Ole Miss.