[autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag] said it himself, third down was the difference between Auburn and Georgia Saturday in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Auburn won the turnover battle, took a 10-0 lead and rushed for over 200 yards but their struggles on third down were too much to overcome as the Bulldogs won 27-20.
“I think you look back at this game and you look at third downs,” Freeze said after the game. “Look at our third-down offense and our third-down defense. I think that’s where the game was lost for us.”
The Tigers finished the game just 2-of-12 on third-down attempts with both conversions coming in the second half.
Auburn’s offense had success at times but they were never able to get the passing game going. That was costly on third down when they were consistently backed up, needing to gain an average of 7.2 yards on their third down attempts.
Auburn picked up one third-down conversion through the air and one on the ground both thanks to[autotag]Payton Thorne[/autotag]. He scrambled for 17 yards for one conversion and found Rivaldo Fairweather for an 11-yard gain in the fourth quarter.
He finished the game 2-of-4 passing for 15 yards with 26 yards rushing and was sacked once on third down. The Tigers attempted to run six other times on third down but were unsuccessful on each, averaging just 1.5 yards per carry.
They didn’t just struggle with third downs on offense, the Georgia offense had plenty of success on third down as quarterback Carson Beck was at his best when his team needed him the most.
Making the first road start of his career, Beck threw an early interception to set up Auburn’s first touchdown of the game but responded in a major way. Auburn’s offense did a great job holding Georgis to small gains on early downs and Georgia’s average distance to gain on third down was 7.4 yards. However, the Tigers’ defense struggled to make that final play as they converted on 8 of their 13 attempts.
Despite facing plenty of pressure from Auburn’s defense, Beck completed 8 of his 10 passes for 115 yards on third down and seven of his completions went for first downs.
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