ATHENS – The last time Georgia lost a game, the Bulldogs responded by gutting Florida State 63-3, and the ‘Noles still haven’t recovered. So it was fair to assume that Georgia would turn Auburn into the blue and orange, and judging by the scorecard – Georgia 31, Auburn 13 – that’s pretty much exactly what happened.

But Auburn didn’t gain its reputation as college football’s great ruiner by turning around and playing the victim. The Tigers did just enough on Saturday — most notably with a third-quarter touchdown drive that sparked excitement in the crowd — to keep Georgia in line, even as the Bulldogs passed touchdown after touchdown past the overwhelmed Auburn defense got stuck.

Auburn played its cleanest game of the 2024 season, but “clean” alone isn’t nearly enough against locomotive Georgia.

Across campus and in bars and restaurants in Athens, there were murmurs in tailgates, the dreaded words “trap game” making the rounds, amid worries about Georgia’s tendency to slow starts and questions about Carson Beck’s consistency. This was exactly the kind of game the Bulldogs rightly feared, the latest installment in the Deep South’s oldest rivalry, with an unstable, unpredictable opponent just a few plays away from going 5-0.

As it turns out, the trap was set a few hours northwest in Nashville, just as Vanderbilt was giving Alabama all it could handle. Every time Vanderbilt scored, cheers rang out across Sanford Stadium as Dawg fans watched the game on their cell phones and watched replays during breaks in the game.

As has become tradition in 2024, Georgia started slowly and struggled to an early touchdown but meandered through most of the rest of the first half. Auburn was unable to capitalize on the advantage, managing only a handful of chunk plays in the first half and a single field goal in the first quarter.

“We have to get off the field, get into field position, fight, turn the field and take it over,” Smart said after the game, “especially at home. “I don’t think we did that.”

Auburn’s key early error came late in the half. Since the Tigers were up 7-3 in their own end zone with 1:52 left, they didn’t use up nearly enough time. A daring deep ball on second down stopped the clock and Auburn gave the ball back to Georgia with 1:02 left in the half. Georgia needed just five plays and 45 seconds to thunder into the end zone and take a 14-3 lead that would last until halftime.

The Tigers showed a flicker of life in the second half as QB Payton Thorne led a six-play, 68-yard touchdown drive that brought Auburn within four points of Georgia’s lead (14-10) with 9:45 left in the third half ). For a moment, Sanford Stadium became uneasy, all the quiet fears expressed during the pregame tailgates starting to gain a little momentum.

Beck led Georgia on back-to-back touchdown drives to effectively close the game, but some of the same questions that emerged from the Alabama game remained unanswered against Auburn. Georgia still struggled to assert itself against Auburn’s running game, and Beck struggled with mobility against Auburn’s pressure. These weren’t game-winning weaknesses against Auburn, but they could prove problematic against the giants that appear on Georgia’s schedule.

Beck finished the game 23 of 29 for 240 yards and two touchdowns while recording two sacks. Georgia’s Trevor Etienne carried the ball 16 times for 88 yards and two touchdowns. On Auburn’s side, Thorne completed 16 of 27 passes for an even 200 yards and picked up three sacks. KeAndre Lambert-Smith had seven balls for 95 yards and Jarquez Hunter beat Georgia for 91 yards and a touchdown.

Auburn now falls to 2-4, 0-3 in the SEC, and while the record isn’t anything to write home about, the performance in Athens was at least free of the mistakes that marked much of the Tigers’ early season. The all-time series now stands at 65-56-8 in Georgia’s favor, and Auburn will have to wait another year to close that gap.

After the game, Freeze was his typical unfiltered self. “We will do it,” he said, “and we will find those who want to fight for 60 minutes.”

On TV, Freeze appeared to be seen charging at Thorne on the sideline after a botched 4th-and-1 attempt:

Thorne, Freeze said, “was absolutely not what we wanted.” Georgia converted the turnover on downs into another touchdown, and that was basically the end of the day for Auburn.

Over in the Georgia locker room, the mood was happy, but not content. Smart said last week’s loss to Alabama was “everything people have been talking about all week.” I mean, it was all over every Twitter feed, all over every social media. I told you all before our (Alabama) game, “If we win or lose this game, we’re going to face a physical opponent.” And guess what? There’s next week. Humility is a week away at any time in our league.”