Georgia Football: Four Reasons Georgia Beat Auburn 27-10
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 reason Georgia Football was able to hold the Tigers to just ten points. Auburn quarterback Jarrett Stidham completed 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 receiver Ryan Davis caught 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 receiver Anthony Schwartz. They did have a nine yard touchdown pass out of the wildcat by JaTarvious Whitlow to tight end John Shenker in the first quarter.
Inside linebacker Monty Rice led the Dawgs in tackles with eight. Defensive backs Richard LeCounte and Mark Webb, added six tackles each. Linebackers Tae Crawder and Juwan Taylor added 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 back Shaun Shivers on a 3rd quarter drive that still ended on a punt. Georgia also gave up a 15 yard run to Jarrett Stidham on 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 defender D’Andre Walker, defense end Jonathan Ledbetter, and nose tackle Tyler Clark all had tackles for a loss. Linebackers Monty Rice and Tae Crowder also 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.