Georgia bounces back from loss by handling Auburn, 31-13

ATHENS — The last time Georgia lost a game, the Bulldogs responded by stripping the hide from the bones of Florida State, 63-3, and the ‘Noles still haven’t recovered. So it was fair to expect that Georgia would stomp Auburn into blue-and-orange paste, and going by the scoreboard — Georgia 31, Auburn 13 — that’s pretty much what happened.

But Auburn didn’t get its reputation as the Great Ruiner of college football by rolling over and playing victim. The Tigers did just enough — particularly with a third-quarter touchdown drive that sent a ripple of tension through the crowd — to keep Georgia engaged, even as the Bulldogs hung touchdown after touchdown on the overmatched Auburn defense.

Auburn played its cleanest game of the 2024 season, but “clean” alone isn’t nearly enough against the locomotive that is Georgia.

There were murmurs in the tailgates all over campus and the bars and restaurants in Athens, the dreaded words “trap game” making the rounds amid concerns about Georgia’s tendency for slow starts and questions about Carson Beck’s consistency. This was exactly the kind of game the Bulldogs were right to fear, the latest installment of the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry, featuring an unstable, unpredictable opponent that’s a few plays from being 5-0.

The trap, as it turned out, was being sprung a few hours to the northwest in Nashville, as Vanderbilt gave Alabama all it could handle. Cheers resounded through Sanford Stadium whenever Vanderbilt scored, as Dawg fans followed the game on their phones and watched replays during game breaks.

As has become tradition in 2024, Georgia started slow, grinding to an early touchdown but meandering through much of the rest of the first half. Auburn couldn’t take advantage, managing only a handful of chunk plays and a single first-quarter field goal in…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/georgia-bounces-back-from-loss-by-handling-auburn-31-13-230954799.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-10-05 23:09:54

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