Third quarter blog

End of third quarter, Georgia now trails 35-31

Aaron Murray is a man. The freshman quarterback started the drive by getting decked by Neck Fairley, then spent the rest of it dodging rushers, standing poised in the pocket and finding open receivers.

Well, finding A.J. Green. The star receiver has three defenders on him downfield, but Murray's poise is buying Green enough time to get open, and Murray keeps finding him.

The result on this past drive was just a field goal, as Murray overthrew Kris Durham in the end zone. But a field goal's better than nothing.

So the fourth quarter begins with the game still very much in reach for Georgia. It'll be up to the Bulldog defense to keep it that way. It's on its heels right now, and hasn't stopped Auburn since early in the second quarter.

5:04 left in third quarter, Auburn leads again, 35-28

Now you see why they call it a power-running attack for Gus Malzahn and Auburn.

It hasn't been all Cam Newton in this game for the Tigers. The Bulldogs are also getting heavy doses of Michael Dyer and Onterrio McCalebb, and they're having trouble stopping either of them.

McCalebb just scored another touchdown, to cap a run-heavy drive. Auburn is now up to 269 rushing yards. It needed only 2:50 and seven plays to go 81 yards, as Georgia's run defense has basically collapsed.

You're seeing the physical effect on the Georgia defense: Sanders Commings was hurt on the touchdown run, and Demarcus Dobbs and DeAngelo Tyson have also been hurt on this drive.

7:48 left in third quarter, Georgia ties it back up at 28

Just when it looked like Georgia was in real danger of having the game get away ... Kris Durham, Orson Charles and Washaun Ealey come through.

But mainly Durham. Facing third-and-15, Durham went up and took an interception away from an Auburn cornerback, in a catch as gutsy as it was important. That moved Georgia to the 40, and on the next play Aaron Murray nailed Charles over the middle for a play down to the 7.

Two plays later, Ealey scampered up the middle, and it was tied.

What a huge turnabout for Georgia, which was flailing on offense, not having scored since the first quarter. That might've been one of the biggest catches Durham has made in his four seasons as a Bulldog.

10:48 left in third quarter, Georgia now trails 28-21

If Georgia ends up losing this game, it may point to the last five minutes of the first half, and the first five minutes of the second half, as the reason.

Auburn has grabbed momentum and the lead away, thanks to a gutsy onside-kick call to start the second half. Thus instead of Georgia's offense trying to re-take the lead against Auburn's struggling defense, it was Auburn's offense rumbling downfield against a defense surprised it was on the field so soon.

The Bulldog offense will need to do something here, or the game risks getting away quickly.

Georgia's special teams was caught flat-flooted on the play. Auburn kicker Wes Bryum onside-kicked it, and no one was around him when he scooped it up at the Tiger 41.

Auburn followed that up with a reverse to Terrell Zachery, who gained 30 yards to get inside the Georgia 30.

Then Georgia's defense had a couple third-and-shorts, but couldn't stop Cameron Newton each time. Onterrio McCaleb finished off the drive with a short run.

This goes back to Georgia's decision not to try for something late in the first half. I'm not going to grill them for it, as there were 50 seconds left and they were at their 20. But in this kind of a shootout, it may have been a risk worth taking.