Georgia football: what went right, wrong in the victory over Auburn

Georgia football defeated Auburn 27-10 Saturday to improve to 9-1 on the season and 7-1 in SEC play. Only two games remain before the SEC Championship Game.

Georgia football just can’t lose to the Auburn Tigers between the hedges. Since the 31-30 loss in 2005, Georgia is 6-0 against the Tigers after Saturday’s 27-10 victory. More importantly, Georgia improves to 9-1 after finishing SEC play. They still control their destiny in the race to the College Football Playoffs.

But Georgia still hasn’t put together a complete game. They leave points on the board and still can’t score from the goal line. Including the interception and the missed fake field goal, Georgia missed out on 22 points. Auburn was lucky to not lose the game 49-10.

But the Dawgs still won, so it wasn’t all bad. Here’s the biggest areas Georgia succeeded and the areas where Georgia failed Saturday.

Efficiency in tough situations

When their backs were against the wall Saturday, Georgia constantly came through with a big play. The Dawgs were 8-of-14 on third down and 1-of-2 on fourth down. But that doesn’t begin to explain how good Georgia was on late downs. 170 of their 516 yards were gained on third or fourth down. And they averaged 10.6 yards on late downs.

Their big late down plays include:

• 25-yard completion to D’Andre Swift on a third-and-eight, and a 21-yard completion to Terry Godwin on third-and-five on the second field goal drive.
• 15-yard run by Swift on third-and-one during the first touchdown drive.
• 14-yard pass to Tyler Simmons on third-and-four.
• 38-yard touchdown pass to Terry Godwin on fourth-and-three
• 32-yard pass to Mecole Hardman on third-and-16, and a 10-yard run by Swift on third-and-seven on the second drive of the third quarter.

It wasn’t just late downs either. Georgia’s offense was on fire after penalties that should have ruined their drives. The 32-yard pass to Hardman and the 10-yard run by Swift early in the third quarter both came after penalties. On the next possession, Swift broke off a 17-yard run after a substitution infraction.