Auburn report: Assessing the Tigers' 31-13 loss to Georgia

Auburn suffered its fourth loss in five games against Georgia on Saturday, but it was the first time the Tigers looked like the losing team.

They lost 31-13 and Georgia was in control of the game the entire time. Auburn was competitive and had chances to stay in the game, but small mistakes and missed opportunities prevented the Tigers from having a real chance to win.

It wasn't all bad, but it wasn't nearly good enough to beat a team of Georgia's caliber.

Here's how we rated Auburn's performance:

attack

Grade: C-

Auburn had its first turnover-free game of the season on Saturday, which is an improvement for this offense. Additionally, it only scored 13 points, making it difficult to give the device a better grade.

The offense found ways to move the ball at times, particularly during the run game. Jarquez Hunter ran for 91 yards and averaged seven yards per carry, but only had 13 carries.

His lack of carries this week and in other games is a little surprising, and Hunter's frustration was palpable after the game.

“Early in the game we had a couple big runs and later in the game we had a couple big runs against them,” Hunter said. “I mean, we could have run the ball all day. In some areas we just had to implement it.”

Through the air, Auburn was good, but not great. Payton Thorne had 200 yards on 16 of 27 passes with no touchdowns and no turnovers. He had an error on a four-and-one early in the fourth quarter and chose to run the ball himself rather than give the ball to Hunter, which Hugh Freeze called a planned handoff.

Auburn also had two drives that made it inside the Georgia 10-yard line, but both ended in field goals. Against Georgia, Auburn needed more and the offense wasn't good enough to last late in the game.

defense

Grade: C-

Similar to the offense, the defense was good at times, but never consistently good enough to keep Auburn in the game.

Holding Georgia under 400 yards of total offense isn't a bad day. Keldric Faulk's two third-down sacks were probably the most impressive unit moments of the game.

However, as the game progressed, Georgia seemed to wear down Auburn's defense. It's not just the defense's fault, as after Auburn's offense was stopped in the fourth, Georgia had good starting position on its two scoring drives in the fourth quarter.

Auburn also had trouble making Georgia quarterback Carson Beck uncomfortable. Despite the two sacks, Beck finished the game with a 79% completion rate and was 20 of 20 on throws of 14 yards or less. That doesn't win games against a well-oiled machine like Georgia.

Special teams

Grade: B-

Auburn wasn't bad on special teams, but a few mistakes keep that grade from getting any higher.

Towns McGough was 2-for-3 on field goals, his only miss being a blocked 54-yard attempt. Georgia played blocking well and a 54-yard attempt would have been a tall order even with good defense.

Jeremiah Cobb had a nice kick return for 29 yards early in the game, but penalties during the return continue to be an issue for Auburn's special teams.

Overall, the special teams didn't do anything to influence the game one way or the other, but it still wasn't perfect.

Coaching

Grade: C-

Auburn put together a good game plan against Georgia, but seemed to lack the extra creativity and aggression needed to beat a team like Georgia.

The Tigers did a lot of what they normally do on both sides of the ball, but it was always going to take an unusual performance for this team to win.

For example, Auburn had the ball inside Georgia's 10-yard line twice, but both offenses resulted in field goals. Auburn needed seven and eight yards, respectively, on those two fourth downs, but Freeze said after the game that he only considered going for it on one of them.

At that point, Auburn was already down 28-10 in the fourth quarter, and even a touchdown likely would have been too little, too late in this situation.

There was nothing bad the team did against Georgia, but it feels like there could have been more.

In total

Grade: C-

Auburn was average against Georgia.

It was better than many of the Tigers' recent performances in Athens, but being average isn't enough to beat top-five teams. There were positives for this mostly young team to build on, but with four losses in six games, that's no longer of interest to anyone in the program.

At some point there has to be results. These results were never expected against Georgia, but as Auburn heads into the bye week at the halfway point of the season, they're hoping to turn the small positives from each game into wins.

Peter Rauterkus reports on Auburn Sports AL.com. You can follow him on X below @peter_rauterkus or send him an email at [email protected]M