Georgia had no room to run against Auburn's Tigers

Georgia running back Nick Chubb is tackled by Auburn linebacker Jeff Holland during the first half of an NCAA college football game on Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Georgia running back Nick Chubb is tackled by Auburn linebacker Jeff Holland during the first half of an NCAA college football game on Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

AUBURN, Ala. - Georgia was the team entering Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday with the deep collection of touted tailbacks.

The Bulldogs would leave Jordan-Hare dazed and confused after the touted tandem of Nick Chubb and Sony Michel combined for just 48 yards on 20 carries. Georgia had 32 carries for 46 yards as a team, which included Auburn's four sacks of Jake Fromm that totaled 37 yards.

"They were just very physical today, much more than we were," Michel said. "Our goal is to come out and be more physical than teams, and we weren't today. We've got to own up that we weren't as physical as we wanted to be and go back, fix that and move on."

Georgia toted a healthy average of 279.3 rushing yards a game into Saturday's showdown. The Bulldogs had gashed Tennessee for 294 rushing yards, Vanderbilt for 423, Missouri for 370 and Florida for 292.

The measly 46 against Auburn represented the lowest ground total for the Bulldogs in the Deep South's oldest rivalry in at least 50 years.

"They've trashed everyone they've played up front, and their running backs have run wild against good defenses," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "We talked about how we were going to have to weather some storms, and we settled down and started getting them before they got going.

"We've got one of the best defenses in the country, and they proved it again tonight. We might have just played our best game up front."

Kerryon Johnson was a one-man wrecking crew for Auburn, punishing the Bulldogs for 167 yards on 32 carries. Receiver Eli Stove provided the occasional relief for Johnson with four jet sweeps for 55 yards.

Georgia took its opening possession 70 yards in eight plays, with the big gain being a 28-yard pass from Jake Fromm to Javon Wims on third-and-7 that moved the Bulldogs to Auburn's 39-yard line. Michel had runs of 7 and 5 yards on the drive to set up Chubb's 1-yard touchdown and a 7-0 Bulldogs lead.

Chubb had a pair of 6-yard runs to open Georgia's second drive, moving past Auburn legend Bo Jackson (4,303 yards) into fourth place on the Southeastern Conference's all-time rushing charts. Michel followed Chubb's 6-yard runs with two runs that netted a yard, and then Fromm suffered a 10-yard sack.

It didn't get much better from there, as Chubb finished with 27 yards on 11 carries and now has 4,318 for his career.

"We wanted to come in as a defense and make a statement," Auburn linebacker Deshaun Davis said. "A lot of people counted us out. They thought that Georgia was going to run the ball all up and down on us. We came into this game saying that we were going hold them under 100 yards, and we held them under 50."

Said Chubb: "They played hard. They played very physical, and they played fast. They did a lot of great things against us. It was hard to get in a rhythm. Those three-and-outs kind of slowed us down."

Georgia had minus-5 rushing yards in the second quarter and finished the first half with 21 carries for 19 yards. It wasn't any prettier through three, as Georgia had 27 carries for 23 yards.

"They're hard to run the ball on, and they were hard to run on in the opening drive," Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart said. "I thought we executed well on that first drive, and after that we didn't. They just whipped us up front. That's the bottom line.

"We couldn't move it."

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.

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