FOOTBALL
Junior A.J. Green had a career-high 9 catches for 164 yards, 2 touchdowns and had his seventh 100+yard receiving game of his career today including his third this year. In the first quarter, he tied his career-high with 2 TD catches in a game, covering 31 and 40 yards. He went over the 100 yard mark in the second quarter on a 15-yard reception. For the half, he had five catches for 114 yards and the 2 TDs.
In the first quarter, redshirt freshman Aaron Murray was 6-for-8 for 121 yards and a
career-tying 3 TD passes. His TD passes covered 9, 31 and 40 yards. For the half, he was 7-for-12 for 137 yards and 3 TDs. Then after Auburn recovered on an onside kick to start the second half and eventually scored a TD for a 28-21 edge, Murray marched the Dawgs down the field on six plays, covering 66 yards to answer with a game-tying touchdown. Down 35-28 and the drive starting at the eight, Murray led the Dawgs down to the redzone and managed a field goal to make it 35-31. He finished the day 15-for-28 for 273 yards and 3 TDs. Murray now has 2,580 passing yards this year, which ranks third best all-time for an SEC Freshman.
Junior Brandon Boykin became Georgia’s all-time record hold for kickoff return yards. He set the mark on his 62nd career return, a 26-yarder in the 2nd quarter that gave him 1,655. The old mark was 1,637 by Gene Washington on 71 returns from 1973-76. Boykin finished today with 90 yards on six returns. He has 1,706 career KOR yards.
Coming into the game, Georgia was 4-for-7 on fourth down conversions. On its first possession and trailing 7-0, Georgia went for a 4th and 2 at the AU-31 and responded with a 31-yard TD pass from Aaron Murray to A.J. Green. For Green, it was his eighth TD reception this year and 22nd of his career. It capped a 9-play, 73-yard drive that ate up 4:15. It was Murray’s 19th TD pass. Then, Murray and Green connected on a 40-yard scoring strike with one minute left in the first quarter for a 21-7 advantage. It was 4-play, 80-yard drive in 1:52. It gave Green four catches for 98 yards at that point.
With the 49-31 loss, Georgia (5-6, 3-5 SEC) saw its four-game winning streak in the series end today. Georgia dropped to 4-14-1 when it is unranked and faces a ranked Auburn squad. The Tigers now lead the overall series 54-52-8 in the seventh most played series in the country. In 114 meetings, Georgia holds a 38-point edge in points scored all-time, 1,809 to 1,771.
Georgia got 7 points off of an interception by sophomore safety Bacarri Rambo, he returned it 24 yards to the AU-9. On the first play, Murray tossed a 9-yard TD to senior Shaun Chapas for his second TD catch this year and give the Bulldogs a 14-7 lead with 6:20 left in the first quarter. For Rambo, it was third INT of the year and fifth of his career. This season, Georgia has forced 20 turnovers and converted them into 80 points. Georgia has 13 INTs this year.
Senior offensive lineman Clint Boling made his 47th start of his career including his 36th consecutive start. Boling’s 47 starts ties him for second in school history for non-kickers with Kevin Breedlove (OL-1999-02). Former QB David Greene (2001-04) has the mark with 52 starts.
With 31 points today, Georgia has scored more than 30 points in six straight games for the first time in school history. The Dawgs are 4-2 in this stretch.
Sophomore CB Sander Commings had a right ankle injury in the third quarter and did not return. Redshirt-freshman outside linebacker Reuben Faloughi went down in the fourth quarter with left leg injury and did not return.
Coach Mark Richt said after the loss, “Congratulations to Coach Chizik and Auburn. They clinched their opportunity to play in Atlanta in the SEC Championship. I know the feeling and it’s a great feeling. They’ve done a great job this season and did a great job tonight. They were a better team than us tonight. We certainly had our moments, but they weren’t enough to win. They’re a very good football team and I want to give them credit.”
“We just couldn’t stop them. That was the biggest difference. We didn’t continue to score and that’s all there is to it. Auburn was very efficient in what they were doing on offense. It’s very difficult to stop a quarterback who can run like that. The only way to outnumber a run game like that is to bring both safeties to the line of scrimmage. When you do that, he throws the ball too well. Cam Newton is a true
dual threat and a tough kid. They have other good players that played well today, but he’s the difference.”
When asked about the onside kick, “We alerted them at the half. The dilemma for our special teams is if they sit at the tee and watch the ball too long when all those guys are flying down the field at 100 miles an hour and they’re supposed to get in position to block, they can’t make the block. Auburn’s kickoff team was one of the bigger differences in the game with them getting the onside kick to start the half and take the lead. We were hoping to get the ball first and put them in a position to be behind. We didn’t get good field position off our kickoff returns and they’re kickoff team tonight was the best we’ve played all season.”
On Auburn playing well despite the week’s distractions, “As a coach and for players, when you go to practice and the meeting room and you’re in your complex, it’s kind of a haven for you. It’s a place where you can focus on the task at hand. When you’re surrounded by guys focused on the same task it’s a good medicine. When there are things swirling around that you cannot control, you have a chance to enjoy playing the game you love.”
On Georgia’s decision to take a knee on last play of game, “The reason why I did that was that tempers were flaring and were out of hand. I thought that if we ran another play things could get out of hand. My goal was to take the knee and make sure nothing broke out. When things get that hot and that emotional, I thought it was the wise thing to do. It’s a physical game.”
Offensive tackle Clint Boling was asked about Auburn’s pressure on the Georgia quarterback, “Aaron Murray handled it well. He took some shots and it falls on the offensive line for not doing a good enough job tonight.”
On the impact of Auburn’s onside kick, “We were expecting to get the ball at the beginning of the half. They get the ball back and went on a run. That definitely hurt us, but I thought we did a great job at getting a touchdown after that series. We didn’t do well enough to put enough points on the board.”
Outside linebacker Justin Houston on the overall success of Auburn’s offense, “They had over 100 yards of rushing just by running the reverse. That is us blowing our assignments. We weren’t where we were supposed to be and they capitalized on our mistakes.”
On the defense’s performance towards the end of the season, “Some guys aren’t as focused as they need to be. That hurt today and has hurt us all season.”
Split end Kris Durham on the game overall, “I am proud at the way we fought overall. We definitely put ourselves in the position to come out to be successful, but we just didn’t make the plays at the right times. Auburn kept making big play after big play and you just have to give them the credit.”
On Auburn stopping the Georgia running game, “I feel like the run sets up the pass and the pass sets up the run so when you stop one of them it definitely puts the offensive in a bind and Auburn did a great job. They came out in the second half and executed what was called and it put us in a lot of difficult situations.”
On the game misconducts, “It was just frustration. It is a physical game, it is a rivalry and it is going to happen. We didn’t want to give any embarrassment to either program so I feel like coach called the best call at the end of the game.”
Free safety Bacarri Rambo on Georgia’s season at this point of the year, “The key plays killed us. When you go back and look at all the games we’ve played, it is just probably one play that killed us and made us 5-6. Hopefully we can regroup and try our best against Georgia Tech.”
Wide receiver A.J. Green on his performance today, “I made some big plays, but it wasn’t enough. They’re a great team with a great defense, and they were
the better team today.”
On being limited to just a field goal in the third quarter, “I feel like we needed seven in that particular drive because they’re a great offense and they’re going to keep scoring. We had to go punch-for-punch with them and I think that field goal really hurt us. They’re a great team and they were the better team tonight.”
On Cam Newton’s performance, “He had a great game. It’s hard to focus when you’re a quarterback and you’ve got all that stuff surrounding you. He’s a great guy and I feel like he handled the show in a professional way. He came out and had a great game, and you’ve got to keep working.”
Linebacker Akeem Dent on experiencing frustrations on defense this season, “It’s hard and really frustrating. We went out and fought hard and gave what we had. They played a great game.”
The Dawgs have an open date this week and will play Georgia Tech on November 27th, the time has not been announced as of today.
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