Georgia Bulldogs are tougher than the environment at Auburn

Are you elite yet? That’s the weekly query to Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart. His answer Saturday: “What we were, we were elite toughness. And we were elite composure.”

And in the process, Georgia also answered (again) another question that has settled around them like a fog that won’t lift: If needed, can this team win without JT Daniels guiding it, be that the season’s sixth game or the 15th?

One more time, with feeling: Yes, it can, Stetson Bennett being much more than an adequate caretaker quarterback who plays behind a defense that just takes the air out of a stadium. In this one, it was a matchup of Auburn’s Bo Nix and Bennett, the excitable boy vs. the dependable mailman. One whose feet run at a couple of thousand RPMs higher than his brain. The other who has had to live with the backhanded slander of being a cool, composed “game-manager.” Nix is more fun to watch. Bennett is more relaxing to watch. On this day, take reliability and give the points.

Oh, and the “game-manager” hit on pass plays of 45 and 60 yards (that one for a third-quarter touchdown) to Ladd McConkey. He also broke free on a 30-yard keeper on a third-and-2 at the end of the third quarter to give breath to a possession the Bulldogs just had to keep alive to make sure Auburn knew its place. Maybe it’s time to redefine.

Bennett finished 14-of-21 passing for 231 yards and touchdown passes to a pair of freshmen - the redshirt McConkey and Adonai Mitchell, both who have rushed into the breach of injury. So, take your time healing, Mr. Daniels. Make sure every muscle fiber is happy. The Bulldogs can afford to wait on you, just as they are on an uncomfortably growing list of casualties.

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

“This was (Bennett’s) first opportunity to come into this environment and play Georgia brand of football,” Smart said. “He made a lot of plays, man. He hit the guys who were open and helped us in the second half by making a lot of run checks.”

Offensively, it could not have played out more perfectly for Smart, as his team got back to hard-nosed basics at the end, the Bulldogs driving 64 yards for a final touchdown, 10 plays all on the ground. Of the 21 fourth-quarter plays the Bulldogs ran, 19 were rushes. They saved that convincing brand of dominance for the end (rushing for 165 of their 201 yards in the second half).

And about that defense ... winning the opening coin flip, Georgia deferred and chose to make its opening statement with that best-in-the-country unit. Hardly a difficult decision. Yet, there were the Tigers making an early pest of themselves with their first possession.

They ground out five first downs – two on fourth-down conversions – while stringing together a 17-play drive. Nix seemed to fumble near the end, but instead was assessed an intentional grounding foul. In this case, the penalty was a reprieve. Given new life, Auburn would kick a 24-yard field goal.

Here was another new experience for these lordly Bulldogs. A regular season was almost halfway done and for the first time they trailed in a game. By only three points, granted, but even that slight deficit seemed yawning in a season of large wins.

If you were expecting them to get all nervous and panicky, well, perhaps that code doesn’t exist within this team’s DNA.

Again, Smart provided the theme for the day. “Two of our DNA traits are composure and toughness, and I thought never has that been more evident than today. Composure. And toughness,” he said.

With very steady hands, linebacker Nakobe Dean wrapped up an interception on a ball that doinked off the hands of intended receiver Sean Shivers. That set up a tying field goal. So, to recap: For the year thus far, Georgia has trailed for a total of 5 minutes, 24 seconds.

Second-quarter scoring drives of 70 and 78 yards gave the Bulldogs a cushion. But the most telling sequence of the first half came with 51 seconds left as Auburn lined up for a 24-yard field-goal attempt. Georgia’s Derion Kendrick broke early from the starting blocks and was called for offside, way offside. Rather than hurting the Bulldogs, the penalty had the affect of baiting Auburn into a sucker play, going for the touchdown on fourth-and-goal from the 3. Latavious Brini flirted with the boundaries of pass interference, but nonetheless broke up Nix’s pass to Ze’Vian Capers. Just like that, Kendrick’s impatience became a blessing.

Having chased Nix all over the field Saturday, the Georgia defense should be given the week off from all conditioning drills. Rocky Balboa used to get his work in chasing a chicken. That was easier. The Bulldogs expended an awful lot of wind and sweat to come up with their four sacks.

Auburn did discover the end zone once, which amounts to a stinging insult to a defense that had allowed only one other all season. On the 50th reunion of these Tigers, they can grandly re-tell of the 78-yard drive they mounted against the 2021 Georgia defense, and make it sound epic.

The Tigers did all they could Saturday in playing Georgia tough enough to make the Bulldogs starters work a full shift. Their fans did their part in making the setting uncomfortable. But again, Georgia aced another test, and answered every question almost before it was asked. They now have outscored opponents 239-33 this season (133-10 these past three SEC games). It remains that the toughest game they’ve had vs. an SEC opponent this year came during this spring’s G-Day game, a 28-23 victory for the Red over the Black.

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