Georgia football: best performers from the beating of the Auburn Tigers

Georgia football won its last SEC game of the regular season Saturday night in Athens against the Auburn Tigers. Here are the MVP’s from that victory.

D’Andre Swift

D’Andre Swift must have been injured pretty bad earlier in the year because he looks like a completely different running back now. He’s rushed for over 100 yards in the last three games. Against Auburn, he topped 200 yards of total offense with 186 yards on the ground and 43 yards receiving. That’s 229 yards of offense on 21 touches. Outstanding.

That number is bolstered by a 77-yard touchdown run that is one of the more entertaining runs you’ll ever see. Of course he was helped out by a big hole up front and a pair of great blocks by Isaac Nauta and J.J. Holloman. But Swift still had to see where to run and then run with speed.

His day was more than just big runs clearly. Take away the 77-yarder, he still had over 100 rushing yards. He averaged 7.6 yards per touch when you exclude the long touchdown run. The Auburn Tigers have to be getting sick of watching Swift after his long game clinching touchdown in the SEC Championship Game last year. Too bad for them, they’ll have to see Swift at least one more time.

Swift’s big day statistically gives him his first 1,000-yard season of his Bulldog career. he’s at 808 rushing yards with 204 receiving yards, putting him at 1,012 yards of total offense. With Massachusetts coming to Athens next week, Georgia Tech a week later, Swift should definitely reach 1,000 rushing yards by the end of the regular season.

Terry Godwin

Another player who dealt with injuries early in the year that is now healthy is senior Terry Godwin. In his place for the first half the year, several different Bulldog receivers stepped up to help lead. But now that Godwin is 100-percent, Georgia’s offense is so much more dangerous.

He finished the Auburn game with 84 yards on three catches, including a 38-yard touchdown catch and run to give the Dawgs a two-score lead going into halftime. He looks like the Terry Godwin of last year again.

Jake Fromm

One mistake aside, Jake Fromm led Georgia’s offense to another lopsided victory. They did leave 15 points off the board, 22 if you want to include the interception. But Fromm’s two touchdown passes in the second quarter changed the complexion of the game. Before he hit Tyler Simmons on a beautiful throw to the end zone, Georgia trailed 10-6 and getting into the end zone was a chore. With that shot to Simmons, and Godwin’s long touchdown, Georgia carried a multi-score lead throughout the entire second half

Monty Rice

If Georgia’s defense had two players like Monty Rice, we’d never have to worry about rush defense. But we only have one Monty Rice and that one does a good job flying around making plays. He finished the game with a team leading eight tackles and he had .5 tackles for a loss. He was instrumental in both slowing down Auburn’s running game which finished with 102 yards, and stuffing their short passing game.

Jonathan Ledbetter

Moreso than Rice, Jonathan Ledbetter did the most to stop Auburn’s offense. He was unblockable in the second half, helping stop the run at the line of scrimmage and closing the pocket against the passing game. As a result, Auburn only averaged six plays per possession in the second half.