ATHENS, Georgia – In a top 10 matchup, No. 4 Georgia beat No. 7 Auburn 27-6 Saturday at Sanford Stadium in the 125th edition of the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry.
"Give Georgia credit. Very good football team. They won the line of scrimmage," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "Our guys competed in the second half but we didn't get it done. We will continue to get better. We'll learn from this. We have the potential to have a lot of improvement, and we will improve."
Bo Nix completed 21 of 41 passes for 177 yards and true freshman Tank Bigsby accounted for 99 yards of total offense to pace the Tigers.
After Georgia scored a touchdown and kicked a field goal on its first two drives to lead 10-0 after the first quarter, the Bulldogs added a 21-yard touchdown pass and Zamir White's second TD run to lead 24-0 with 6:26 remaining in the first half.
Auburn got on the scoreboard with a 20-yard Anders Carlson field goal to cap a 12-play, 65-yard drive for a 24-3 halftime score.
On the drive, Nix's 19-yard pass to Bigsby was Auburn's longest gain of the half. Making his first start, Bigsby made seven receptions for 68 yards while adding 31 rushing yards on eight carries.
"Tank's a competitor," Malzahn said. "He's got some playmaking ability. The last two weeks, he's gotten some game experience that will help him moving forward."
Auburn began the second half with a 15-play drive that led to Carlson's 45-yard field goal, trimming UGA's lead to 24-6. The Tigers converted three third downs on the drive, with Nix hitting Seth Williams for 10 and 20 yards to move the chains twice while Nix rushed for 10 yards on third-and-5.
Gallery: (10-3-2020) Auburn at Georgia
After Georgia kicked a field goal to lead 27-6, Auburn again drove into UGA territory, with 6-2, 300-pound true freshman tight end J.J. Pegues twice picking up first downs with 2-yard runs out of the Wildcat formation. The drive ended with a fourth-down interception.
Anthony Schwartz had eight receptions for 57 yards.
"They fought," Malzahn said. "I'm proud of that. We've got to do better and we will. We learned a lot. We'll grow from it."
Jamien Sherwood highlighted Auburn's defensive effort, making a career-high 14 tackles. Sherwood tallied 13 stops in the first half, including a tackle for loss, while breaking up two passes. Jordyn Peters also had a career effort with 13 tackles. K.J. Britt added 12 tackles and Zakoby McClain made 11, both career highs. McClain also recorded a sack.
The Tigers and Bulldogs played in front of 20,524 in Auburn's first road game of the coronavirus pandemic.
"This is adversity," Malzahn said. "We've got eight more SEC games. Our team has the potential to improve greatly. We're still capable of being a good team and I really believe we will be moving forward."
Auburn returns to Jordan-Hare Stadium next Saturday vs. Arkansas at 3 p.m. CT on SEC Network.
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer
GAME NOTES
- Captains: K.J. Britt, Big Kat Bryant, Bo Nix, Shaun Shivers
- Coin Toss: Auburn wins the toss and defers. Georgia will receive
- Attendance: 20,524 (capacity)
- First-time starters for Auburn: Nehemiah Pritchett, Tank Bigsby
- Auburn has scored in 95 consecutive games, the second-longest streak in school history
INDIVIDUAL NOTES/OFFENSE
- Junior Seth Williams now has 1,510 career receiving yards, ranking 16th among Auburn career leaders
- Bo Nix's Auburn record string of consecutive pass attempts without throwing an interception ended at 251 attempts; it dated back through last season's LSU game
- In his first career start, freshman Tank Bigsby led Auburn in rushing (31) and receiving (68) yards
INDIVIDUAL NOTES/DEFENSE
- Jamien Sherwood has a career best 14 tackles, the most by an Auburn player since Jeremiah Dinson (15) at LSU last season
- With a career-high 12 tackles tonight, K.J. Britt records his second consecutive game with double-figure tackles
- Jordyn Peters records a career-best 13 tackles
- Zakoby McClain tied a career best with 11 tackles
INDIVIDUAL NOTES/SPECIAL TEAMS
- Anders Carlson converted his first two field goal attempts of the season