Georgia’s grip on the top of the Coaches Poll didn’t last long.
After a 27-24 home loss to Auburn, the Bulldogs dropped from No. 1 to No. 4 in the Week 8 AFCA Football Coaches’ Poll, sliding three spots after a game that turned on turnovers, penalties and one final kick as time expired. Miami took over the top spot with 50 first-place votes, Ohio State checked in at No. 2 with 13, and BYU climbed to No. 3 with 10.
Georgia is now 6-1 overall and 4-1 in conference play after suffering its first defeat of the season Saturday at Sanford Stadium. The Bulldogs jumped out fast, building a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, but Auburn answered with 24 straight points and used three Georgia turnovers to end a nine-game losing streak in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.
The finish was brutal for Georgia, which clawed back from a 24-14 fourth-quarter deficit and tied it when Gunner Stockton hit London Humphreys on a 4-yard touchdown pass with 2:58 left. The defense gave the Bulldogs a chance to steal it late, but Stockton’s fumble with 58 seconds remaining handed Auburn the ball near midfield. Then came a roughing-the-passer penalty on Gabe Harris Jr., and that helped set up Alex McPherson’s 34-yard game-winner as the clock ran out.
Stockton finished with 272 passing yards and two touchdowns, but his three turnovers - including two interceptions - loomed over the night. Georgia also had a field goal blocked and was hurt by costly penalties in a loss to an unranked opponent for the first time since 2019.
Auburn quarterback Byrum Brown did plenty of damage on his own, rushing for 115 yards and accounting for two touchdowns. Georgia was also without All-American safety KJ Bolden, and the Bulldogs struggled to slow him down.
Kirby Smart didn’t sugarcoat it afterward.
"Yeah, tough one," Kirby Smart said after the loss. "We like to say the Dawgs don't beat the Dawgs, but they found a way to beat themselves today.
I'll open by giving a lot of credit to Auburn. Their physicality showed.
I thought they were physical at the line of scrimmage. Their quarterback is really hard to tackle.
We knew that coming in. He did a tremendous job of yards after contact, getting out of sacks, keeping them in good, normal down and distances.
We helped them. We gave them three turnovers and some really critical, undisciplined penalties.
Like I say, humility is a week away. Auburn played better than us today, executed better than us today, didn't turn the ball over, and hit the red area plays.
We had some really, really untimely, undisciplined, uncharacteristic penalties. I give them credit, but at the end of the day, we pick it up.
Everything we want to do is in front of us. I know it's a big deal to everybody else, but to me, it's another game, and we have to turn around and get ready to go play again because it is a war in this league, week in and week out.
Everybody can beat everybody."
The full top 25 also brought a few notable shifts beyond Georgia’s drop. Notre Dame fell six spots to No.
8, Kentucky moved up five places to No. 12, Alabama slid six spots to No. 13 and Texas tumbled 12 spots to No.
- BYU’s climb to No. 3 was one of the biggest jumps near the top.
Georgia’s next stretch is daunting. The Bulldogs will face No.
21 Missouri at home, No. 7 Ole Miss on the road and No.
24 Florida in Atlanta. Before that run begins, they head into an open week and then return for an Oct. 31 matchup against Florida in Atlanta, with kickoff set for 3:30 p.m. and ABC carrying the game.
In Other News...
Georgia Suddenly Faces A Brutal Reality After Auburn Shocker
Georgias loss to Auburn at home landed with an extra punch because it snapped a run that had stretched back to 2017, and it did so in a game the Bulldogs had every reason to believe they could control. Instead, late-game execution turned into the deciding theme, with Gunner Stocktons fumble setting up Auburns game-winning field goal and leaving Georgia to stare at a result that changes the tone of the season.
The immediate challenge is not just absorbing the setback, but regrouping after the bye week with a schedule that only gets more demanding from here. Georgia still has the SEC Championship and College Football Playoff in sight, but the path forward now feels a lot narrower, and there is little margin for the kind of mistakes that turned this one into a shocker. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Faces One Auburn Worry Fans Cant Ignore
Georgia heads into its next matchup still riding the glow of a win over Alabama and sitting at No. 1 in the AP Poll, but the attention in Athens has already shifted to Auburn. The Tigers arrive with a 3-2 record under new head coach Alex Golesh, and the setting only adds to the intrigue with the game coming on Georgias home field.
The bigger concern for the Bulldogs is less about the opponents record and more about their own health. Georgia has several players listed as injured or doubtful, including running back Chauncey Bowens and defensive back KJ Bolden, and those availability questions could shape how the Bulldogs handle a team that is trying to settle in under a new coach. The ranking still gives Georgia the edge on paper, but the injury report is the kind of detail that can complicate even a favored teams week. [Read more 🡒]
No. 1 Georgia Suddenly Faces Big Questions After Rivalry Shock
Auburns 27-24 upset of top-ranked Georgia turned a routine rivalry night into a jolt for the Bulldogs, who saw their nine-game winning streak in the series come to an abrupt end. It also marked Georgias first home loss to an unranked team since 2019, a surprising result in a game that kept swinging back and forth and featured big defensive stops on both sides.
Gunner Stockton still put together a productive passing night with 272 yards and two touchdowns, but his two interceptions proved costly in a game where Auburn finished with 366 yards of offense and never let Georgia settle in. For a team used to controlling this matchup, the bigger concern now is how quickly it can regroup after a loss that raised real questions about its margin for error. [Read more 🡒]