For one breathless stretch in Sanford Stadium, everything looked like it was headed the way Auburn fans have spent years dreading.
Georgia had the crowd roaring. The No.
1 Bulldogs had already clawed back from a two-score hole. Auburn, once again, seemed to be standing on the edge of another crushing finish.
Then the script flipped.
Auburn beat No. 1 Georgia in Athens on Saturday, and Alex McPherson’s 34-yard field goal with five plays left sealed it. The Tigers left with their first win over Georgia since 2017, their first win in Athens since 2005, and a landmark victory for Alex Golesh just six games into his run as Auburn’s head coach.
The finish felt almost cruel to Georgia and utterly cathartic for Auburn. As the Bulldogs drove with less than a minute to play, Gunner Stockton lost the ball.
The play had help from Cody Sigler and Stockton’s own teammate before Auburn defensive back Sylvester Smith-Reed came away with it. A few snaps later, McPherson drilled the winner and the sideline exploded.
“I remember coming to the sideline knowing the Auburn moments,” Sigler said postgame. “Auburn is known to not pull through. But I feel like with Coach AG, I feel like this place is turning around.”
Golesh said afterward that the emotional weight of the win was not lost on him. He received messages during the week from Auburn figures including Bo Jackson, Takeo Spikes, Ronnie Brown and Jason Campbell, each telling him what the rivalry has meant to them.
For decades, “The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry” carried real heat. Golesh pointed back to the old battles between Vince Dooley and Pat Dye in the 1980s, then the back-and-forth games in the early 2000s, when this matchup felt like a centerpiece on the calendar for both sides.
In recent years, the one-sided results dulled that edge. Saturday brought some of it back.
“That’s why these guys chose Auburn,” Golesh said of the current team. “Not to just wear an AU on their helmet, but to stand on the shoulders of guys that texted me this week.”
Auburn had to win in ways it hadn’t shown much this season. The Tigers, who came in as nearly a 20-point underdog, finished with three takeaways and no giveaways.
The offensive line, which had looked shaky in two SEC games, helped produce 192 rushing yards. And after Georgia opened with back-to-back touchdowns, Auburn’s defense settled in and held the Bulldogs to 113 rushing yards.
Golesh compared the challenge to tackling the game snap by snap instead of letting the whole afternoon swallow you.
“If you think about it, that it’s a three-and-a-half-hour dogfight, nobody’s going to give you a chance,” Golesh said. “But if you think about it as a series of six to eight second snaps, six to eight second one-on-one battles, play more violent and tougher and more detailed than the guy across from you one play at a time, you’ll get the result you want. I think it’s just a lesson for our guys, for our fan base.”
That approach, something Golesh and his players have been talking about since January, held up against Kirby Smart and Georgia. More than anything, it gave Auburn the kind of win this fanbase had been waiting for.
Under the program’s last two head coaches, the sting of losing big games had started to take over. Auburn used to be the kind of team that could wreck your season in any given week. That fear had faded.
It may not be back for good yet. Auburn is 4-2 overall and 2-2 in the SEC, and Golesh said afterward that he knows the program still has work to do before it can expect to win games like this on the road.
But in the moment, none of that mattered. When McPherson’s kick went through, Auburn had something it has not had in a while: a result that made the rest of college football take notice.
In Other News...
Auburns Georgia Stunner Carried An Emotional Twist Tigers Fans Will Love
Auburns win over No. 1 Georgia in Athens already stood out as one of the seasons biggest shocks, but the finish made it feel even more memorable. The Tigers snapped a long drought with their first victory in Athens since 2005 and their first over Georgia since 2017, and they did it with a last-minute 34-yard field goal that sent the visiting sideline into celebration.
Alex McPherson has been through far more than a pressure kick at the end of a rivalry game. The Auburn kicker battled inflammatory bowel disease and underwent surgery before returning to the field, and head coach Alex Golesh made sure he got the game ball afterward, praising his leadership and perseverance as much as the winning kick itself. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Still Has One Big Xavier Atkins Problem Heading Forward
Xavier Atkins was nowhere to be found when Auburn knocked off No. 1 Georgia on Saturday, and his absence was one of the quieter storylines inside an upset that will be remembered for a long time. The All-SEC linebacker has been central to what Auburn wants to do defensively, so losing him for a game of that magnitude only adds to the uncertainty around a unit that managed to come through anyway.
By Monday afternoon, there still was no update on Atkins status, leaving Auburn to carry the win while also waiting on one of its most important defenders. For a team that just took a major step forward, the lingering question is whether it can keep building on that momentum without knowing when one of its top playmakers will be back in the mix. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Is Already Answering Auburn's Biggest Rivalry Win
Auburns rivalry win over Georgia on the field may have landed with extra force, but the recruiting battle is already swinging back the other way. Christian Mays, the top-ranked JUCO defensive lineman in the 2027 cycle, officially decommitted from Tennessee and announced his commitment to Georgia on his personal social media account, giving the Bulldogs another highly regarded addition to their front.
Mays currently plays at Northeast Mississippi Community College and brings the kind of profile that can shift an early recruiting board fast. For Auburn, it is another reminder that one big moment in the rivalry does not end the bigger chess match, especially when Georgia is already making its move for one of the cycles most sought-after defensive linemen. [Read more 🡒]