Georgia Football continued its quest to return to the College Football Playoff, prevailing 27-10 over Auburn. Here are the three main reasons the Dawgs won.
Defense
Limiting Yards After the Catch
Limiting the Auburn Tigers’s yards after the catch was a major reasonGeorgia Footballwas able to hold the Tigers to just ten points. Auburn quarterbackJarrett Stidhamcompleted a high percentage of his passes with all of the screens Auburn runs, completing 25 of 37 passes.
However the Georgia Bulldogs’ defenders limited Stidham to only 163 yards passing, a microscopic 4.5 yards per pass. Auburn wide receiverRyan Daviscaught a high volume of passes, catching a Baker’s dozen of 13. However he was held well below 100 yards, gaining only 72 yards on the night.
The Tigers only had one explosive pass of 20 or more yards, a 20 yard play by wide receiverAnthony Schwartz. They did have a nine yard touchdown pass out of the wildcat byJaTarvious Whitlowto tight end John Shenker in the first quarter.
Inside linebackerMonty Riceled the Dawgs in tackles with eight. Defensive backs Richard LeCounte and Mark Webb, added six tackles each. Linebackers Tae Crawder andJuwan Tayloradded five tackles a piece.
Run Defense
The Georgia Bulldogs run defense has made incredible strides over the last three weeks. This week the run defense wasn’t as dominant as it was against Kentucky, where the Dawgs held the Wildcats to just 84 yards and a 2.4 yards per carry average.
The run defense against Auburn was stingy none the less, allowing just 102 yards on the ground. Auburn attempted 20 runs and averaged 5.1 yards per carry, but that number is deceiving.
The Dawgs gave up a 30 yard run to running backShaun Shiverson a 3rd quarter drive that still ended on a punt. Georgia also gave up a 15 yard run toJarrett Stidhamon a drive in which Auburn turned the ball over on downs.
Subtract the two big runs and Auburn only averaged 3.2 yards per carry. They were never able to sustain any prolonged success moving the chains on the ground.
Edge defenderD’Andre Walker, defense endJonathan Ledbetter, and nose tackleTyler Clarkall had tackles for a loss. LinebackersMonty RiceandTae Crowderalso combined for a tackle for a loss. The performance by the run defense was by far the best of the season, against a team that has a good quarterback.
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