defense couldn’t play a ‘perfect’ game against Georgia

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Auburn’s defense couldn’t play a ‘perfect’ game against Georgia

Posted Nov 16, 2019

4-5 minutes

Auburn had 2:16 left to complete a 21-point comeback. Georgia’s quarterback Jake Fromm hit running back D’Andre Swift with a quick pass. When Swift turned around, Auburn cornerback Javaris Davis immediately took him to the ground for the Tigers’ ninth three-and-out of the game, which gave Auburn one more chance to put together a scoring drive.

“I was at an all-time high,” defensive end Marlon Davidson said. “I was like, ‘Man, we finna win this game.’ Our coach, man, he kept on telling us, ‘Don’t give up. The game ain’t over. The fat lady ain’t sing yet.’ We just kept going on, we kept that fight and kept that edge about us. My defense, man, I can’t be more proud of them for the way they fought.”

Auburn wasn’t able to capitalize on it in the 21-14 loss, but the defense gave it a fighting chance to beat the No. 5 team in the country.

The defense forced nine three-and-outs — four more than Georgia’s defense, who is ranked fifth in the nation, did. Davidson’s one sack was against an offensive line who has only given up five sacks this season, which ranks second nationally.

Once Auburn started its fourth-quarter comeback, the defense shut down Georgia to allow its offense a chance. Georgia did not score in the fourth quarter and had two total yards of offense.

“We called everybody up and told everybody, ‘Just do your job.’ ” linebacker K.J. Britt said. “That’s what worked. ‘Don’t be no heroes. Stay in your gap. Do what you’ve got to do. Play with technique. Just don’t let them up.’ So, it’s just a mindset. The mindset is what worked.”

In the end, it wasn’t enough, and the defense’s mistakes helped contribute to the loss.

“We didn’t come out and we didn’t play very good on defense,” defensive tackle Derrick Brown said. “We held them to seven points in the second half, but if they had never scored 21 we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

The defense gave up the first touchdown after there was a miscommunication between Daniel Thomas and Christian Tutt. Dominick Blaylock took advantage and created space between himself and the two defensive backs. Fromm hit him with a 51-yard touchdown pass.

The defensive also had some costly penalties that led to the other touchdowns. Roger McCreary was called for defensive pass interference, which helped Georgia gain momentum on its second quarter touchdown. Davidson was penalized for a personal foul. The refs called it a horse collar, although the replay showed he had his hand well below the shoulders. The penalty moved Georgia into Auburn territory and eventually resulted in the Bulldogs third and final touchdown.

The defense was also not as dominant as it has been.

In its three previous top-10 matchups, Auburn had at a total of 10 sacks. The Tigers sacked Oregon’s Justin Herbert three times, Florida’s Kyle Trask four times and LSU’s Joe Burrow three times. They only got to Fromm once.

Auburn had four takeaways against Florida and three against LSU but none against Georgia. Before playing Georgia, Auburn was averaging 2.5 sacks a game and 1.7 takeaways a game.

The Bulldogs rushed for 141 yards, 29 yards more than what the Tigers have given up on average per game. Swift averaged 6.2 yards per carry and gained 103 yards of offense.

But, at the end of the game, the Tigers played a pretty clean game on defense. They had just four penalties, and held Georgia 11 points under its season average of points per game. A few errors do not add up to a bad performance, especially one where the offense doesn’t get anything going until the fourth quarter.

“You try to play a perfect game, but in college football, you’ll never play a perfect game, no matter what; I don’t care what school you play against,” Davidson said.