The Dogs are back in the Dome.
With a resounding 38-0 win over Auburn on Saturday night at Jordan-Hare Stadium, No. 5-ranked Georgia clinched a berth in the SEC Championship game for a second year in a row.
The Bulldogs (9-1, 7-1 SEC) closed the conference season tied with Florida (9-1, 7-1) as SEC Eastern Division champions. But they will represent the East against the West champ in the Georgia Dome on Dec. 1 based on their 17-9 win over the Gators on Oct. 27. South Carolina (8-2, 6-2), which beat Georgia 35-7 on Oct. 6, finishes third in the East.
The Bulldogs will play Alabama in the SEC title game if the Crimson Tide can defeat Auburn on Nov. 24. The No. 1-ranked Tide (9-1, 6-1) were upset by No. 15 Texas A&M on Saturday in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
This will be the fifth time Georgia has played in the SEC Championship game since Mark Richt became its coach in 2001. The Bulldogs had never played in the title game before Richt’s arrival.
Georgia clinched this berth in the same place it clinched its first one under Richt. It was the 10th anniversary of the game in which quarterback David Greene hit Michael Johnson with a fourth-quarter touchdown pass on fourth-and-14 in 2002. Georgia went on to win the overall SEC title that season.
For the 12th time, the Bulldogs clinched an SEC title against Auburn, who they played Saturday for the 116th time in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry. It was Georgia’s sixth win in the past seven games in the series. The series record is 54-54-8.
The Bulldogs also won the SEC championship in 2005 and played in the title game in 2003 and 2011. Georgia lost to LSU in the Georgia Dome last season.
This year’s clincher was considerably easy for the Bulldogs. They kicked off to open the game, then scored on their first four offensive possessions to build a 28-0 first-half lead. Georgia didn’t punt until there were 30 seconds remaining in the first half, and then only after tight end Arthur Lynch dropped what would have been a first-down catch.
The dynamics are decidedly different on The Plains. Just two years after winning a national championship, Auburn’s Gene Chizik is coaching amid multiple reports that he will be dismissed at season’s end.
The discontent is understandable. The Tigers fell to 2-8 for the first time in 60 years and dropped to 0-7 in SEC play, also for the first time since 1952. The Tigers were 1-7 in league play under Terry Bowden in 1998 and 0-6 in Doug Barfield’s last season, 1980.
Essentially Auburn had no answer for Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray. The Bulldogs’ junior completed his first 10 passes and threw for 186 yards in the first half, with touchdown passes to three different receivers — Chris Conley, Malcolm Mitchell and Tavarres King (who was wearing the No. 15 jersey of injured teammate Marlon Brown). The Bulldogs scored on their first four possessions, on drives of 76, 80, 64 and 90 yards.
Including last year’s four-touchdown passing performance, Murray is 32-of-42 for 432 yards and seven touchdowns the past two seasons against Auburn.
Georgia also got 100-yard rushing games and single touchdowns from freshman tailbacks Todd Gurley (11 carries for 116 yards) and Keith Marshall (8-105). Marshall had a 62-yard scoring run in the third quarter.
Georgia’s defense did its part. The Bulldogs entered the fourth quarter having allowed one touchdown and four field goals in the past three games. The Tigers had only 34 yards rushing on 19 carries and 153 total yards when the starters exited the game early in the fourth quarter.
Jarvis Jones added two sacks in the first half, giving him 10.5 on the season, 3.5 short of the school record. Safety Bacarri Rambo had an interception, the 15th of his career. He is one short of the school record.
Georgia got the game off to an ideal start. The Bulldogs won the coin toss, chose to defer to the second half, forced Auburn into a three-and-out, then drove 76 yards to score on their opening possession.
Georgia got a 49-yard run off left tackle from Gurley on the second offensive play. A 13-yard pass to tight end Arthur Lynch put the Bulldogs deep into Auburn territory. Then, on third-and-goal from the 6, Murray found Conley in the back of the end zone for a touchdown. Barely four minutes in, Georgia had a 7-0 lead.
And the rout was on.
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