College Football1 hour ago2 minute read

Auburn Shocks Top Ranked Georgia in Historic Athens Comeback

Auburn rallied from two touchdowns down to beat top ranked Georgia 27-24, snapping historic streaks in Athens.

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Historic streaks fall in Athens

Auburn stunned college football on Saturday with a 27-24 win over Georgia in Athens. The Bulldogs held the top spot in the AP poll for only one week after Texas lost it. Now another shakeup is coming to the rankings.

The comeback erased numbers that had stood for decades. Georgia jumped out to a 14-0 lead. Before this game, unranked teams trailing the top ranked team by 14 or more points had lost 195 consecutive games. The last unranked team to pull off that feat was Michigan State against Ohio State back in 1998, when Nick Saban coached the Spartans.

Georgia had also been almost automatic with a big lead under Kirby Smart. The Bulldogs entered Saturday with a 95-3 record under Smart when leading by at least 14 points, including a 65-0 mark against unranked teams. Top teams at home had won 93 straight games against unranked opponents before Auburn broke through. The last unranked team to win in that spot was Arkansas against LSU in 2007.

Byrum Brown leads wild Saturday for the SEC

Auburn quarterback Byrum Brown led the charge with a huge day on the ground and through the air. Brown finished with 115 rushing yards and 150 passing yards. He is the first quarterback with at least 100 rushing yards in a victory against an AP No. 1 team since Vince Young did it for Texas against USC in the 2005 national title game.

The result added to a rare weekend across the conference. Georgia fell, Tennessee beat Alabama 26-10, and Florida beat Texas 27-24. Georgia, Alabama, and Texas had not all lost on the same day since 1996.

This season has produced nonstop chaos at the summit. Georgia became the third No. 1 team to lose this year, joining Ohio State and Texas. Only 1984 and 1981 saw three top ranked teams go down by Week 7. It also marks the fifth time in history that a No. 1 team lost to an unranked opponent in back to back weeks. Both Texas and Georgia lost on walk off field goals on the final play, the first time that has happened in consecutive weeks in AP poll history.

What it means for the next game

Auburn will look to carry this momentum back home for another tough conference matchup.

LSU Tigers at Auburn Tigers (College Football, Sat, 24 Oct): Auburn Tigers win 35%, LSU Tigers win 65%; projected score Auburn Tigers 23, LSU Tigers 28. Our safest pick: Auburn +15.5.