Georgia Football: 3 takeaways from Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry at Auburn

2. Defense came up big against Bo Nix, Auburn backfield

Auburn flipped a switch in the fourth quarter and put a major scare in the Bulldogs. Scoring twice in the final frame of regulation, and having several chances with the football to drive for an overtime-forcing tie, the Tigers fell short as Bo Nix proved incapable of closing the deal in the rivalry game.

Nix finished with 245 yards and a touchdown and completed 60 percent of his passes. The freshman quarterback also needed 50 passing attempts to reach that mark as he finished below five yards per attempt and with just more than eight yards per completion. Georgia gave the youngster plenty of short throws, especially the slant, but kept everything in front of them.

The Bulldogs defense also did a great job of shutting down the Auburn ground game. Unable to rip off a single run of at least 10 yards, the Tigers finished with only 84 total rushing yards as a team on 36 combined carries. Nix did punch in a rushing touchdown as he finished as the team’s leading rusher with 42 yards on 13 carries. No Tigers running back finished with even 30 rushing yards.

In holding Auburn to only 329 total yards of offense, the Bulldogs proved that they are more than capable of holding their own in any sort of contest. They were especially stout in the final few minutes, eliminating any chance that the Tigers had of coming back and forcing overtime.