11/10/18 10:00pm
Dawgs Rout the Tigers
Cover Photo: georgiadogs.com
By: Joshua Grosh
Georgia defeats Auburn 27-10
(Our Prediction): #5 Georgia vs #24 Auburn Week 11 Prediction
Dawgs keep the winning streak alive as they tear down the just newly ranked Auburn Tigers. Despite Auburn being touted as one of the best defensive lines that Georgia may see all regular season, Georgia had its way relatively with Auburn – even with the drought in the third quarter. Georgia in fact only had three drives of essentially three plays or less: one was a three-and-out, a touchdown in two plays, and the last on the end of the game drive. This is even with the red zone issues that the Dawgs have been dealing with this season that showed in the first half as the Dawgs were twice unable to punch it in within the 10-yard line and having to settle for a field goal. To say the least, the offense played rather impressively outside of an interception and those two goal line stands. The Georgia defense was a tail of a few drives. The first couple drives it seemed Georgia was going to struggle against an Auburn offense that had suddenly discovered itself for this game. Yet, after the second touchdown drive, the defense dug in and shut down the Tigers with 5 punts, a turnover on downs, and a one play before half drive. Similar to past weeks, I shall break down what I found to be great about the game and what we need to see more of and things we need to work on afterwards.
The greatest thing to show some continuation for the past few games is the running offense. Georgia was able to run it at will on one of the better defensive fronts of the SEC – racking up an eye-popping 300+ rushing yards and Swift continuing to show the flashes of talent that he showed us last season before the injury that hampered him early this season. The rushing attack’s success falls hand in hand with some of the most incredible of offensive line recruitment, players returning to full health, and Georgia finally identifying the go to runners. Unlike earlier this season where Georgia mixed up rushers all around, Georgia has decidedly changed to feeding Holyfield and Swift. This has led to Georgia seeming to build a rhythm by keeping the best players on the field. Georgia also has found its footing passing the ball – Fromm finally showing the confidence and sureness that he had last season instead of often holding the ball far too long in the face of blitzes. Then, the defense is starting to gel in the rush defense to make things even better – as Auburn found it rather hard to run it on Georgia. Next, what I loved the most was the aggressive nature at which UGA played. Georgia did not shy away from going for it on 4th down late in the first half that resulted in a touchdown pass – and Georgia even attempted a pass with Rodrigo just to hammer it home against Auburn. I loved everything about it as it shows this coaching staff is not going to just play not to lose and we need that killer instinct for the bigger opponents ahead (Alabama and potentially playoff teams). Yet, with these good things, there are still some major issues that need to be addressed.
The most major of all red flags is Georgia’s complete ineffectiveness in the red zone. Georgia cannot seem to punch it in whenever it is within the 10 yard line – and it terribly showed that Georgia was looking for answers this game. Georgia went to Justin Fields in the first drive in an attempt to spark life in the red zone offense, but to no avail. Chaney even had a sit down with the offensive line and Fromm to try to inspire the group in the red zone – which may have worked overall as Georgia ran it all over Auburn’s face, while still leaving some red zone woes. Georgia still needs to work on the cold moments of its offense. If Georgia is going to have a chance against Alabama, it needs to both cash in on its opportunities and make sure the offense is creating those opportunities more regularly. Then, the final issue I have is that I do hope that Georgia starts getting Fields more chances to pass the ball. He is looking a little sharper but he needs to start getting more comfortable in the pocket – the first drive when he was in was a very bad example of potential panicking. This is something that can only get better with play time.
MVP:
D’Andre Swift: 17 carries for 186 yards and 1 touchdown as well as 4 receptions for 43 yards. He was a beast all evening.
Look Ahead:
The next match up will be in Sanford Stadium against the Minutemen of UMass at 4 P.M. Georgia is a heavy favorite and many backups should get plenty of game play if all things go as expected. UMass is 4-7 on the season with one more game after this due to the away game to Hawai’i. They are coming off a loss to BYU and can at times have a fairly potent offense which may keep Georgia on its toes
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