Turns Out Georgia Football's Kirby Smart Was Telling the Truth

ATHENS - Georgia football coach Kirby Smart said last week that "humility is only a week away".

He was exactly right as the Bulldogs were humbled in a big way against unranked Auburn on Saturday, losing 27-24 in Sanford Stadium. The top-ranked Bulldogs were heavy favorites against their long-time rivals and were aiming to win their 10th consecutive win in the series.

Everything was going according to plan early on as the Bulldogs got off to a strong 14-0 lead in the first quarter. It was shaping up to be another blowout, but the Auburn Tigers didn't lay down. They fought back and landed several big punches, scoring 24 unanswered points. They matched Georgia's physicality in the trenches, got excellent play from their quarterback, and never backed down.

'll open by giving a lot of credit to Auburn. Their physicality showed. I thought they were physical at the line of scrimmage. Their quarterback is really hard to tackle. We knew that coming in. He did a tremendous job with yards after contact, getting out of sacks, keeping them in good normal down distances.

Yes, the Tigers made the plays they needed too. They executed a trick play for their first score of the game. Then wide receiver Chas Nimrod came down with a terrific one-handed touchdown grab to tie the game. They took advantage of their opportunities. Meanwhile, as well as Auburn played, the Dawgs gave them some gifts.

Typically we don't see Georgia beat themselves. They're normally an efficient team that stays composed and faces adversity head one. That didn't happen on Saturday and it's a big reason why they came up short in the end.

"We like to say the dogs don't beat the dogs, but they found a way to beat themselves today. We helped them. You know, 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 their red area plays, and we had some really, really untimely, undisciplined, uncharacteristic penalties.”

That's how you lose as the No. 1 team in the country. Turnovers and costly penalties. Still, as bad as they played throughout the game, the Dawgs did have a chance to win it at the end. It was right there in front of them, but a third Gunner Stockton turnover was too much to overcome.

"I saw him in the locker room, his head was up," Smart said about Gunner Stockton. I mean, we wouldn't have been in the position we were in if it wasn't for Gunner. You know, we wouldn't been able to do some of the things we did if it wasn't for Gunner."

Now, it's back to work for Kirby and the Bulldogs. They're a beat up team right now, but that's football. You've got to play well week in and week out, and the Dawgs didn't play well enough to win on Saturday. Auburn beat Georgia, but Georgia certainly helped them. That can't happen again if Georgia wants to accomplish their ultimate goal.

"Everything we want to do is in front of us. I know it's a big deal to everybody else, but to me, it's another game, and we have to turn around and get ready to go play again because it is a war in this league week in and week out. Everybody can beat everybody."