Tigers come up just short again in close loss to rival Georgia

The opportunities were more abundant Saturday, more within fingertips reach, than they have been throughout this season of blown chances and unmet expectations.

The Tigers had not one, but two real prospects late in the fourth quarter to come back and beat No. 10 Georgia in their final home game of the season at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

The mistakes made in the first 55 minutes notwithstanding, of course.

Georgia 17, Auburn 13 showed that the Tigers, as they have most of the season, really can compete with one of the best teams in the nation — albeit a mistake-prone, but certainly better-off reflection of themselves.

It just further established that the Tigers can’t finish.

“All the tools are there,” quarterback Kodi Burns said. “It’s really disheartening that we’ve come on the bottom end of most of these games when they’re so close.”

A game that could have easily been far from close after what Georgia showed offensively in the first quarter came down to the last play.

Auburn took over with 1:44 to play on its own 20-yard line. Two big Burns scrambles and an outside-route completion to Montez Billings set the Tigers up for third-and-1 on Georgia’s 14 with seconds to play.

“We had to throw the ball into the end zone,” Burns said.

Burns tried once to Rod Smith in the left corner and again, with Georgia’s Justin Houston in his face, to a blanketed Ben Tate in the right corner. Both passes sailed out of bounds.

“I just threw it up in the end zone,” Burns said, “and it didn’t go our way.”

It didn’t go Auburn’s way minutes earlier, when it had just as good of a chance to upset the preseason No. 1.

The Tigers, again, found themselves well inside striking distance, but with a play to make at fourth-and-3 on Georgia’s 21 and 4:12 to play. A field goal, though risky, considering Auburn’s kicking woes on this particular day, this season as a whole and the 25 mile-per-hour swirling winds, was an option, but coach Tommy Tuberville went for the victory.

Billings, who had a step of clearance on his defender, was fingertips short of giving Auburn that lead, but Burns’ ball just didn’t have enough air on it.

“We took a shot,” Tuberville said, “and it didn’t work.”

At 5-6, still one win shy of bowl-eligibility with only the Iron Bowl to play, it’s safe to say not much has worked for Auburn this season. The flashy new spread offense, the new junior-college transfer quarterback and the old, reliable defense all serving as prominent examples.

“When you’re not winning,” offensive line coach Hugh Nall said, “you’re certainly not good enough at anything you do.”

Auburn was on its heals early, as the dual-threat Bulldogs gashed the Tigers’ defense for 158 yards of offense, 94 on the ground, in the first quarter.

But the Tigers kept Georgia off the board, blocking a field-goal attempt on the Bulldogs’ first drive and letting the Bulldogs stall themselves with the first of many costly penalties on the following possession.

“That’s an awful, awful good offensive football team that we tangled with out there,” defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads said. “I think that we challenged them and played pretty good.”

A muffed punt return by Georgia set up Auburn for its first score, as Burns rode the momentum — still lingering on the first play — and found a wide-open Mario Fannin on the right side of the field. Fannin danced across the field before leaping into the left corner of the end zone for the 52-yard connection.

The extra point was missed, as holder Clayton Crowfoot bobbled the snap, leaving Auburn with just a 6-0 advantage.

It flipped to a 7-6 deficit late in the second quarter, when Matthew Stafford threw a short screen to Knowshon Moreno, who ran it 35 yards for the touchdown. Sandwiched in between the scores, Burns let a nearly six-minute Auburn drive slip out of his hands when he fumbled at the Georgia 24.

“We just didn’t make a few opportunities work for us on offense,” Tuberville said. “That can’t happen in a game like that.”

Fannin briefly gave the lead back to Auburn early in the fourth quarter, when he broke numerous tackles on his way to a 35-yard touchdown run.

“Mario’s one of those guys that if you just get the ball in his hands, he’s going to take over the game,” Burns said.

Stafford quickly took the game back, moving the Bulldogs 60 yards on six plays to give Georgia the lead for good. His 17-yard connection to A.J. Green served as the game-winning touchdown in the Bulldogs’ third consecutive win over Auburn.

“We never thought this would happen to us? Six losses?” cornerback Walter McFadden said. “The frustration has left now. We have an attitude now that we have nothing else to lose.

“What else can happen?”

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