3 Up’s, 3 Down’s from Georgia’s 27-20 win over Auburn

Georgia had to make another comeback on Saturday, this time overcoming an early 10-0 deficit in a four quarter battle against Auburn. The Bulldogs prevailed 27-20 to improve to 5-0 (2-0 in SEC) in a game mixed with Up’s (positives) and Down’s (negatives).

3 up’s, 3 down’s from Georgia’s 27-20 win over Auburn

Up – Brock Bowers

Brock Bowers took over the game in the 2nd half. When Georgia needed the best tight end in the country, he showed up and showed out. Bowers ended up going for 8 catches, 157 receiving yards, and a TD (plus 1 carry for 3 yards which converted a 3rd down). Most of the damage came in the 2nd half, as Bowers had 6 catches for 148 yards and the score after the break.

Bowers made some circus catches as well, corralling in two one-handed catches in a row (although one was brought back due to a penalty). Bowers also had another great run after catch on his 40 yard touchdown reception which won the game for Georgia as he split two defenders and broke some tackles on his way to the end-zone.

Bowers has now had two strong games in a row as he now has 17 catches, 278 receiving yards, and 3 TD’s across the last two games. If Georgia is going to keep getting this dominance from Bowers, that will make things a lot easier offensively.

Down – Run Defense (especially against the QB’s)

Auburn had success running the ball on Georgia, especially in two ways (with there being some overlap between the two). One being the outside run and the other being Auburn’s QB’s running. Overall, Auburn ran for 219 yards on 43 carries on Saturday, good for 5.1 yards per carry. 125 of those rushing yards came from Auburn’s quarterbacks (Payton Thorne and Robby Ashford).

Thorne broke free for a big 61 yard carry in the 1st quarter that took Auburn from their backs on the goal line and into scoring position (which they did on the drive with a 27 yard field goal). Ashford also had success with an 18 yard run and then a 9 yard touchdown on the ground.

The Bulldogs struggled with outside contain throughout the game. They also struggled stopping the QB’s running. Everyone knew that Auburn likes to get their QB’s involved in the running game, especially Ashford. Yet, Georgia still had trouble with it. I still think Georgia can stop the run, especially on the inside, but Saturday was not an example of that.