AUBURN, Ala. — Georgia showed the toughness and resiliency Coach Kirby Smart preaches, but there’s work to be done.
The No. 1-ranked Bulldogs scored a 27-20 come-from-behind win at Auburn on Saturday, overcoming two turnovers and a sold-out Jordan-Hare Stadium crowd.
Brock Bowers scored the game-winning touchdown on a 40-yard catch and run touchdown with 2:52 left, and Malaki Starks sealed the game interception an Auburn fourth-down pass with 1:28 at the UGA 39, returning it to the Tigers’ 40-yard line.
Georgia was down 10-0 after the first quarter and didn’t take its first lead until Payton Woodring connected on a 38-yard field goal with 10:57 left.
“It felt like we were behind the whole game, and you come back and win on the road, it says something about your team and character,” said Smart, whose team extended its school-record win streak to 22 games, equalling the streak Tim Tebow’s Florida Gators had in 2008-09.
“Nobody panicked — I don’t know how good of a team we’ve got, (and) I don’t sit here and proclaim we have some unbelievable team,” said Smart, whose team has won 11 in a row in opposing stadiums dating back to a 41-24 loss in Tuscaloosa to Alabama in 2020.
“But I do think our team believes in each other, we connect and we step up when we need to step up. But we can’t keep turning the ball over.”
Smart, now 9-3 in Jordan-Hare Stadium as a player, assistant coach and head coach, knew what it would take to get a win at Auburn.
His team did just enough.
“Obviously we didn’t play our best game today, but we’re a very resilient team, proud of the way we competed,” Smart said. “We’re not gonna get where we want to go if we don’t get better, that’s the biggest thing.”
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Georgia plays host to Kentucky (5-0, 2-0 SEC) at 7 p.m. next Saturday in Sanford Stadium.
The Wildcats beat Florida 33-14 on Saturday in Lexington.