Bulldogs flip the script
Smart’s crew shuts down potent Tigers, likely seals playoff bid
Associated Press
ATLANTA — What a difference three weeks can make.
Bouncing back from a blowout loss to Auburn, No. 6 Georgia turned the rematch into a rout of its own. Roquan Smith came up with two crucial turnovers, freshman Jake Fromm threw a pair of touchdown passes and the Bulldogs cruised to a 28- 7 victory over the No. 2 Tigers in the Southeastern Conference championship game Saturday.
Georgia ( 12- 1) is almost certainly headed to the College Football Playoff in just its second year under coach Kirby Smart, who learned a thing or two about what it took to get there in his previous job as Nick Saban’s defensive coordinator at Alabama.
“We were ready,” Fromm said. “We wanted to show that we could play better than we did.”
As the final seconds ticked down on a thoroughly dominating performance, Smart took the customary drenching with a gleeful smile and bounced up and down on the sideline with his players, having guided the Bulldogs to their first SEC championship since 2005.
They’ve got their sights on a bigger prize.
Georgia hasn’t won a national title since 1980, a drought that has only grown more irritating to the red- and- black faithful as schools all around them — Alabama, Auburn, Florida, LSU, Tennessee, Clemson, Florida State — finished No. 1 in the years since.
Auburn ( 10- 3) was the hottest team in the country, rolling into Atlanta after wins over Georgia and then- No. 1 Alabama in its last three games. But the Tigers were stymied by their mistakes, including a blocked field goal, and they had no answer for a Georgia team eager to make up for its embarrassing 40- 17 defeat on the Plains.
“They flipped the script on us from the last game,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said.
Nick Chubb, Sony Michel and freshman D’Andre Swift provided a much more effective running game, which opened up things for the young quarterback. Fromm completed 16 of 22 passes for 183 yards, including a two- yard touchdown to Isaac Nauta in the second quarter and a six- yarder to Terry Godwin with just over 13 minutes left that essentially sealed the victory.
Auburn managed only 259 yards after piling up 488 in its Nov. 11 rout of the Bulldogs.
Swift, another impressive freshman, finished off the rout by breaking loose for a 64- yard touchdown run with 10: 34 left. Swift rushed for 88 yards, Chubb had 77 and Michel added 45 before he left in the third quarter with what is believed to be a minor knee injury.