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Georgia football rose as one of five top 10 teams sustaining a costly loss on Saturday. But the No. 1 Bulldogs falling to unranked Auburn 27-24 became completely unexpected. Now coach Kirby Smart, quarterback Gunner Stockton and company must rebound quick.
But fans are left bewildered on how a Tigers team, featuring a first-time SEC head coach in Alex Golesh, could knock off one of the conference’s best heavyweights.
It’s time to dive into where the blame lies on Georgia’s end here.
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Georgia showed undisciplined side at wrong moment
Smart addressed one glaring issue from the loss: The yellow marker flying out for the Bulldogs.
“We also had some really untimely undisciplined and uncharacteristic penalties,” Smart told reporters postgame. “I give them [Auburn] credit. But at the end of the day, we’ll clean it up and everything we want to do is still in front of us.”
Granted, Georgia drew just four penalties compared to Auburn’s 11. However, one became a personal foul roughing the passer call during the Tigers’ final drive. Gabe Harris Jr. collided into the head of quarterback Byrum Brown that moved Auburn closer to the end zone. Alex McPherson booted the walk-off 34-yard field goal to seal the upset and send the internet ablaze.
Still, take away the roughing the passer moment and Auburn would’ve had to hit a longer 52-yard field goal attempt.
Georgia looked flat in the middle
Another words, the Bulldogs couldn’t reach the end zone during the second or third quarter.
Georgia started fast with tacking on 14 points in the first. But Auburn bottled the offense from there, including forcing two Stockton interceptions in the second and third quarter.
The Bulldogs even missed a 54-yard field goal that got blocked. But Georgia missed on adding 10 points before halftime because of that missed FG and the first Stockton pick.
Strength of Georgia became stunning weakness
This is when a Smart-led team becomes a shell of their past self. When opponents run up and down on the Bulldogs.
Golesh found holes in a proud run defense that features a massive and strong defensive line. Auburn averaged 4.2 yards per carry in playing the ball control system. That included Brown wearing down Georgia with 115 rushing yards on 26 carries.
But Auburn became eight yards away from totaling 200 rushing yards. That’s uncharacteristic of past Smart defenses.
Jeremiah Cobb emerged as another reason behind this Georgia rush defense getting worn down, hitting 61 yards and averaging 4.7 yards per carry. Georgia fortunately surrendered only one rushing score, but Auburn likely just sent out the blueprint on how to wear down the Bulldogs moving forward.
Teams will test the Bulldogs on handoffs and misdirection runs moving forward. Plus Brown showed that dual-threat quarterbacks can hurt this 2026 Georgia defense too. Smart must readjust and preach gap control plus playing with more eye discipline moving forward.
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