Defense has rare meltdown with UGA
Mike Szvetitz/Opelika-Auburn News
ATHENS, Ga. - To Quentin Groves, it was simple.
“Big plays,“ the Auburn senior linebacker said. “Big plays and not getting off the field on third down, that’s what hurt us.“
Big plays, as the Auburn defense defines them, is giving up a run of 15 yards or more or a pass of 20 or more.
In Saturday’s 45-20 loss to Georgia, the Tiger defense gave up nine such big plays: Five runs (15, 19, 24, 15 and 53) and four passes (58, 45, 33 and 26).
Two of those big plays were for touchdowns, the rest were on scoring drives.
“They just made some plays down the field,“ AU defensive coordinator Will Muschamp said. “It’s the same old thing. You’ve got to stop these guys down the field and you can’t let them convert third down, and that’s what happened in the game.“
The first was a 58-yard touchdown pass to Mohamed Massaquoi in the first quarter, where there wasn’t an Auburn defender within 10 yards of the Bulldog receiver when he caught the pass.
“We busted coverage,“ Muschamp said.
But just because it was the longest play of the day for Georgia, it wasn’t the one that hurt Auburn the most.
No, that came in the third quarter.
Auburn had just given up their lead on a Knowshon Moreno 24-yard (another big play) touchdown run.
But the Tigers were still in the ballgame, trailing 24-20, with more than five minutes left in the third.
They even had Georgia facing an third-and-9 on its ensuing possession. But the Bulldogs had different plans.
Stafford hit a wide-open Sean Bailey for 33 yards and a first down. That catch set up Georgia’s fourth touchdown of the game - another Moreno TD run - at the end of the third quarter, breaking Auburn.
“You can’t give up big plays and let them back into the game,“ Groves said. “If you notice, that’s what let them back in the game, the third down, the deep ball to Sean Bailey. They got right back in it, and I was like ‘Wow.’“
Bailey had four catches for 96 yards - that’s a big play (24 yards) per catch.
Georgia’s big third quarter, coupled with stingy defense, was enough to turn a close game into a run away.
“That third quarter was pretty long, I know that much,“ AU defensive back Jerraud Powers, who had an interception, said. “It’d be second-and-long, third-and-long and they’d hit us with a big play and that just kills your momentum as a team and on defense, especially.“
