Physical play key to Georgia’s win over Auburn, return to No. 1 in poll

Georgia didn’t play like a football team worthy of being called the nation’s top-ranked team for much of its 42-10 victory over Auburn, but the Bulldogs did enough to prove they merited a return to the top of the poll.

Second-ranked Georgia slogged through the first half en route to taking a 14-0 halftime lead against visiting Auburn before blowing out the Tigers in the second half to win the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry for the 15th time in the past 18 meetings on Saturday.

“We continue to grow and get better,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “This team has proven its resilience. They’re tough, but we’ve got a lot of things we can clean up. We didn’t play as well as we could have, but I want to say I’m very proud of the way our team went after it and attacked.”

Georgia (6-0, 3-0 SEC) had no trouble beating Auburn (3-3, 1-2) for a school-record sixth straight time, enabling them to supplant Alabama atop the AP poll when the Crimson Tide struggled throughout a 24-20 win over visiting Texas A&M (3-3, 1-2).

“Every game is a rivalry game, and we wanted to shut Auburn out,” Georgia linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson said.

The Bulldogs received 32 of the 63 first-place votes, to move ahead of the Crimson Tide, (6-0, 3-0 SEC), who fell to third, while Ohio State (6-0, 2-0 Big Ten), received 20 first-place votes and moved from third to second.

Georgia will look to maintain the top spot, which Smart said is irrelevant at this point in the season, when it hosts Vanderbilt (3-3, 0-2) on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.

The Commodores squandered a 10-point second-quarter lead in a 52-28 loss to then-No. 9 Ole Miss (6-0, 2-0) on Saturday.

The Bulldogs have completely dominated Vanderbilt in recent years. Georgia has won the teams’ past four meetings by a combined score of 178-33, including a 62-0 win last season in Nashville. Georgia has won 12 of the teams’ past 14 meetings dating to 2007.

Georgia likely can’t afford to keep being so one dimensional on offense if it is to win its fifth SEC East title in the past six years and if it’s to defend its national title.

Stetson Bennett failed to throw a touchdown pass for the third straight week and hasn’t completed a pass longer than 34 yards since a 48-7 win over South Carolina on Sept. 17.

Georgia, however, had no problem running all over Auburn. Branson Robinson has 12 carries for 98 yards and a touchdown and Daijun Edwards has 12 carries for 83 yards and three touchdowns, as he became the first Bulldog with three rushing touchdowns in a game since Sony Michel in Georgia’s overtime win over Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl in 2018.

“When you can beat somebody physically in the SEC, especially somebody as physical as Auburn, it sets a tone,” Bennett said.

Bennett had three carries for 64 yards, including a 64-yard sprint up the middle when he out-ran Auburn’s entire secondary into the end zone to give Georgia a 28-3 lead on the first play in the fourth quarter.

“They ran what we thought they were going to be in and it worked great,” Smart said. “It wouldn’t be explosive if it wasn’t for him being a really good athlete. It proves again that he’s multi-dimensional and is hard to defend because of things he can do.”

When it was over, Georgia had rushed for 292 yards on 39 carries — a whopping 7.5 yards per attempt — to end any chance of Auburn leaving Sanford Stadium with a win for the first time since 2005.

“I thought our guys came out with a game plan,” Smart said. “Striking, attacking, we really wanted to be physical. We wanted to win the line of scrimmage, we thought it would pay dividends in the fourth quarter, and in the second half being somewhat of a hot day, I thought it took its toll on them, especially in the second half for our team to be able to run the ball like it did.”

Vanderbilt has had some success in its non-conference games, including wins over Hawaii, Elon and Northern Illinois, but the Commodores have been hammered in SEC play. After a 55-3 loss at then-No. 2 Alabama two weeks ago, the Commodores were outscored 42-8 in the final 30:21 against Ole Miss, which finished with 591 yards of offense.

“We need to get better at everything,” Dumas-Johnson said. “There are things we did good today, but we still have to be better.”

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