Bulldogs grind out win over Tigers

ATHENS, Ga. – Trevor Etienne rushed for two touchdowns Saturday, Carson Beck threw for two scores, and the No. 5-ranked Georgia football team earned its eighth straight win over Auburn. In a homecoming matchup at Sanford Stadium, the Bulldogs led from start to finish and ground out a 31-13 win.

The Bulldogs (4-1, 2-1 SEC) came into Saturday’s game on Dooley Field fresh off last week’s loss, 41-34, at now-No. 1 Alabama. It was Georgia’s first regular-season loss since November 2020 — so how would the Bulldogs respond? This wasn’t a light-up-the-scoreboard game, but Georgia made a lot of key plays when they were needed and improved to 14-3 after a loss under coach Kirby Smart.

A week after Georgia and Alabama combined for more than 1,000 yards of total offense, the Bulldogs and Tigers (2-4, 0-3) played a much less fast-paced game. Georgia finished with 381 yards, while the Tigers gained 337. Georgia now leads the all-time series with Auburn 65-56-8.

Beck completed 23 of 29 passes for 240 yards and the two touchdowns, while Etienne did it all, rushing 16 times for 88 yards and the two TDs and catching six passes for 36. Defensive end Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins had a pair of sacks to help pace the strong showing from the defense.

Georgia’s defense opened the game by forcing Auburn to punt on its opening possession. The Bulldog offense then went on an 11-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a Trevor Etienne two-yard rush up the middle for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead with 6:24 remaining in the first quarter. Etienne had three rushes and two receptions on the drive, including a nine-yarder on a screen pass down to the 1-yard line.

The Tigers drove deep into Georgia territory on their next possession and had a first down at the 12. On third-and-6 at the 8, defensive end Mykel Williams tackles Thorne for a 1-yard loss. Auburn’s Towns McGough kicked a 27-yard field goal with 56 seconds left in the quarter to cut the Georgia lead to 7-3.

The second quarter was mostly a collection of drives for both teams that resulted in punts — until the Bulldogs got the ball back with 1:02 on the clock. On first down at the Auburn 49, Beck hit Dominic Lovett for eight yards, followed by a one-yard completion to Etienne. On the next play, Etienne got loose on the right side for a 23-yard gain to the Tiger 17. Two plays later, Beck found Lovett on the left hash for an 11-yard touchdown, and a 14-3 lead, with 17 seconds to play in the half.

Auburn managed to complete a couple of passes to get into field-goal range, and McGough’s 54-yard attempt as time expired was blocked by safety Dan Jackson. The senior broke through the left side of the Tiger line and got a hand on the ball. At the half, Georgia had 193 yards of offense to Auburn’s 147.

The Tigers forced the Bulldogs into a three-and-out to start the third quarter and then drove for a touchdown. After Thorne made a couple of key plays with his legs on the drive, running back Jarquez Hunter got free around the right side, broke a tackle, and went 38 yards for the score, cutting the UGA lead to 14-10 with 9:45 left in the third.

Georgia relied heavily on its ground game on its next possession, running the ball on nine of 12 plays and scoring a touchdown on Etienne’s one-yard plunge. The back’s second TD of the game pushed the Bulldogs’ lead to 21-10 with 3:50 to play in the third. At that point, Etienne had touched the ball on 18 of Georgia’s 48 plays in the game.

Auburn got aggressive on its next possession and went for it on fourth-and-1 at its 44-yard line. A Thorne run play was blown up from the start, with linebacker Jalon Walker denying the edge and linebacker Raylen Wilson getting the tackle for a loss of four at the 40. Georgia took advantage of the great field position and later scored on a three-yard pass from Beck to Bell, making it a 28-10 game with 12:34 remaining.

The Tigers cut the lead to 28-13 with 7:38 remaining on McGough’s 26-yard field goal. Auburn had a first-and-goal at the 10 but the Bulldog defense kept them out of the end zone to help seal the victory. Kicker Peyton Woodring added a bit of insurance with a 47-yard field goal with 1:50 to play, pushing the lead to 31-13.

The Bulldogs are back at Sanford Stadium next Saturday when they host Mississippi State. Georgia has won 20 of 26 all-time games against the Bulldogs from Starkville, including the last four and 13 of the last 14.

POST-GAME NOTES

*Just Win Baby! With today’s 31-13 victory over Auburn, the No. 5 Bulldogs extended their home winning streak to 27 games dating to 2019, which leads all of FBS.

*Georgia now leads the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry 65-56-8 including 3-1 on Homecoming. Under Kirby Smart, the Bulldogs are 9-1 against the Tigers. *The Bulldogs improved to 82-18-2 on Homecoming including 8-1 in the Smart era.

*Georgia has now won 43 of its past 44 games including 29 of its past 30 SEC regular season games. The Bulldogs are 50-3 in their last 53 games.

*With the latest victory, Georgia’s 2024 senior class improves to 46-3 overall and 40-1 in the regular season.

*Summary Of The Offense: Georgia tallied 381 yards of total offense on 66 plays in a 31-13 win. Georgia built a 14-3 advantage in the first half.

*Senior QB Carson Beck was 14-for-16 for 124 yards and one TD in the first half and finished 23-for-29 for 240 yards and 2 TDs.

*Georgia’s opening TD drive covered 75 yards on 11 plays in 4:58 for a 7-0 edge. Beck was 6-for-7 for 60 yards on the first TD drive including a 33-yarder to sophomore Lawson Luckie to convert a 3rd-and-2 at the UGA43.

*Georgia’s second TD drive was five plays, going 49 yards in just 45 seconds, ending with an 11-yard catch by Dominic Lovett. Lovett, who now has two TDs on the year, finished with four receptions for 38 yards.

*The Bulldogs had 141 rushing yards. Junior Trevor Etienne had a team-high 88 yards on 16 attempts. He had a career-high six catches for 36 yards.

*Up 14-10 in the 3rd quarter, Georgia put together a 12 play, 75-yard TD drive in 5:55 as Etienne scored from one-yard out for a 21-10 edge. On the drive,  the Bulldogs converted a 4th-and-1 on a Beck sneak plus featured a 27-yard completion to Colbie Young on 3rd-and-6 from the 50.

*The Bulldogs made it 28-10 following a fourth down stop of the Tigers. It led to a 40-yard TD drive on five plays in 2:40 capped by a three-yard TD pass toDillon Bell, his third of the year. Bell had four catches for 18 yards and a score plus one rush for 18 yards.

*Defensive Review:  The Tigers finished with a season-low 13 points, gaining 337 yards of total offense on 58 plays. In the first half, the Tigers had three points on 147 yards of total offense on 27 plays. Coming in today, the Bulldogs ranked 18th nationally in Scoring Defense at 14.8 ppg. Auburn came in averaging 33.4.

*Auburn cut it to 14-10 on a 38-yard TD scamper by Jarquez Hunter with 9:45 left in the 3rd quarter. It capped a six play, 68-yard drive. It was the longest rush allowed by the Bulldogs this year.

*Down 21-10 to start the 4th quarter, Auburn was stopped on 4th-and-1 at their own 44 as QB Peyton Thorne lost four yards on a keeper by Raylen Wilson.

*In the first half this year, Georgia now has allowed 39 points. Georgia has allowed just 23 points in the second half this season.

*Auburn got the football to start the game after Georgia deferred the football until the 2nd half.Tyrion Ingam-Dawkins registered a sack on the first play from scrimmage for a loss of five yards. AU’s first drive covered 14 yards on six plays before punting. Ingram-Dawkins notched his second sack on AU’s second drive, resulting in a loss of seven yards. AU managed a 27-yard FG on its second possession to cut it to 7-3 with 56 seconds left in the 1st quarter.

*Georgia’s leading tacklers were senior Dan Jackson with seven while junior Malaki Starks had six. Jackson blocked a field goal too. Last week at No. 4 Alabama, Jackson posted a career-high 10 tackles.

*Special Teams In Action: Junior Brett Thorson had three punts for a 42.3 average with no returns. The first two punts were placed inside the 20 including one downed at the AU3. After a defensive stop, Georgia took over at the AU49 and led to a five play, TD-drive in 45 seconds and a 14-3 edge.

*Sophomore PK Peyton Woodring tallied seven points on four PATs and a 47-yard field goal plus handled kickoffs too. His is 7-for-7 on FGs this year.

*Sophomore Anthony Evans had two kickoff returns for 25 yards and one punt return for five yards. Coming in today, Auburn along with Georgia and Ohio State were the only three teams in FBS to hold opponents to negative punt return yards on the year.

*Senior Dan Jackson blocked a 54-yard field goal attempt to end the first half. In 2021, Jackson blocked a punt against No. 8 Arkansas. Jackson became the first Bulldog to block a field goal since 2022 when Nazir Stackhouse did it against LSU in the SEC Championship Game.

*Captains, Coin Toss and For Starters, It’s Homecoming: Georgia’s captains were Dillon Bell, Earnest Greene III, CJ Allen and Dan Jackson.

*Georgia won the toss and deferred the ball until the second half. There was one first-time starter in redshirt sophomore Drew Bobo (C).

*The Homecoming Queen was Maggie Epps, a senior native of Kennesaw, Ga., and a human development and family science major who is also on the Spirit Squad. The Homecoming King was Stephen Amolegbe, a native of Kennesaw. He is pursuing a bachelor’s in management information systems and a Master of Science in business analytics.

*Up Next: The No. 5 Bulldogs (4-1, 2-1 SEC) play host to Miss. State (1-4, 0-2 SEC) Saturday, Oct. 12th at 4:15 pm (SECN). MSU was off today.

POST-GAME QUOTES

Head Coach Kirby Smart

On the offense, getting the run game going, and the offensive line…

“I thought Drew [Bobo] did great. I’ll tell you what, he went in there, and he’s worked his tail off. People don’t realize how many snaps that kid’s snapped to get his chance for the first start. I never really even worried because when Jared [Wilson] was out I was like, ‘Drew’s going to go in there and do a great job,’ and he did. He plays really hard, He plays really physical, and I thought the run game was good for us. I thought we were really close to hitting those explosives, and I feel like we left more out there. We have good backs. We have a quarterback that gets us into the right run, and we’d hit some of those for 20 and 30, and we’re not – and that’s frustrating. A couple of those times I thought we could cash them in, but we did make a lot of plays in the run game.”

On defending the line of scrimmage…

“I think their back [Jarquez Hunter] is the best back that we have played, maybe the best back we will play. I don’t know that, but he is elite. He has embarrassed us for three-straight years. He runs through armed tackles, and I’d advise anybody in the NFL that wants a really good back to get that kid. He’s a special player. But we did rise up. We bent and didn’t break. We had several times that the same thing happened to us during the year, and we have opportunistic stops. We had some fourth down stops that were huge. The fourth down, they tried to run the play that [Jalen] Milroe and Alabama ran and Jalon Walker made the play, and we had big fourth down stops in the second half.”

On Dan Jackson’s performance and what he means to the team…

“Dan’s very consistent. He understands leverages, he knows what offenses are trying to do to you. He’s getting better and better. Dan’s a good football player, and we always thought that and I’m just proud of him. But the blocked kick was something we worked really hard on this week. We worked really hard on protection, and that’s why I sent the field goal team out there at the end because I trust those guys to do it right.”

#15 Carson Beck || QB || RSr.

On the offensive drive after Auburn had cut the deficit to one score…

“I mean, that was huge for us. They go down and bring it back within one possession, we got to respond. You know, let’s have a response drive. Run the ball, pass the ball, however we were able to attack them and just very methodical like you said. And that wears down a defense, so I’m super proud of the guys. I thought we played really well today.”

On the pressure on Drew Bobo in his first start…

“I think being the center of the Georgia Bulldogs is a lot of pressure within itself, so for him to come out there in his first start, I thought he played really well. There wasn’t no bad snaps, no miscues as far as ID’s and that type of stuff… I thought he played a really good game.”

On the limited possessions in the first half…

“The first half went by really fast — definitely the first quarter. It started to slow down, you start to get to two minutes left and it starts to take forever. There’s a bunch of TV timeouts and all that. Just being on the sidelines, I think the games go a lot faster. I was actually talking to Coach about this, with the iPads. You know, we’re so locked in on watching the defense and seeing what they’re doing each and every drive. Especially when you’re having a 13 play drive, you’re going through every single play seeing what they’re doing. It makes the game go by faster because you’re not watching the game, you’re not watching the defense. You don’t even know what’s going on. Next thing you know it’s my team’s out, let’s get up, let’s go play.”

#93 Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins || DL || RJr.

On the identity of this team…

“The identity, to me, is resiliency. That’s one of our core values, too, but I feel like we’ve been showing that. You know, with the game last week we didn’t give up, and this week we bounced back. We came back. We came back strong. We have to build off that and stay consistent.”

On how he evaluates the defense’s performance…

“We do things well, but we also mess up. We go to the doctor every Monday try to fix things. That’s what we do. You know, you’re never going to play a perfect game, so we are just doing and executing what we know we can do.”

On the potential of this defense when healthy…

“I feel like everybody knows that. If we’re at full strength, we’re going hard. I feel like we have great players in this D-line room. Coach Scott has built a very great squad, so I feel like we’re all ready to go. We’re ready.”

 #71 Earnest Greene III || OL || RSo.

On the physicality of the run game…

“It’s the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry. That game’s always going to be won up front in the trenches, whether who runs the ball better, whether it’s us or them. And you know, I feel like up front, we took pride in being able to just attack them and try to run the ball. That’s a good team. They fight hard. We knew that we were going to get their best, so we just wanted to emphasize the run game.”

 On the offense needing time to get where they want to be…

“Essentially every offseason everybody will go through that, because every offseason is a different team. No matter how many returning starters there are, or whatever the case may be, every year is its own new team and its own mission. So I feel like you’d have to do that every season.”

 On the room for improvement in the run game…

“I feel like there’s always room for improvement. We kind of believe in being perfectionists, so there’s always going to be something on tape you can clean up and fix. We’ll be looking to do that on Monday. ”

#17 Dan Jackson | RS-Sr. DB

On his performance…

“There’s a lot of things that I can always get better on. Just having all of us run to the ball, even though I might have some tackles, the corner might allow me to be there at a certain spot. We get great rush from our defensive linemen. We work as a unit, and it’s never a one man show.”

On getting the win…

“It feels great. And like I said, the 24-hour rule. Win or lose, we’re flushing it. It just feels great to make corrections and just keep getting better every week. That’s what we have to do when we play in the SEC.”