2009 Week 16

ATLANTA, Ga. --- In a rematch of their first loss of the year, the Georgia Bulldogs faced off against Auburn in the SEC Championship game, which was played in Atlanta this year.

In that first loss, Auburn ran the score to 21-0 before the Bulldogs kicked a field goal to put some points on the board. This time the Bulldogs scored first on a 48-yard field goal by Blair Walsh, but then watched in horror as Auburn scored the next 24 points to take that familiar three-touchdown lead.

Auburn kicked a field goal to tie the game early in the second quarter. The game resembled a defensive battle throughout the majority of the first half. Auburn put a nice drive together and scored on a 4-yard run by their fullback, John Douglas, to make it 10-3.

Then Georgia started making mistakes that cost them dearly. Joe Cox dropped back and just made a bad read, throwing it right into coverage. It was intercepted in Bulldog territory, and Auburn had no problem going down the field for another run by the fullback, 17-3.

Trying to just get to the second half, the Bulldogs handed the ball off to the always-reliable Caleb King, who promptly fumbled. Auburn scooped and made a nice return, and they would fire a short touchdown pass to make it 24-3 at halftime.

The third quarter was similar to the first, in that the defenses dominated the affairs. Auburn seemed to be satisfied with their lead and weren't being very creative on offense.

Late in the third quarter, Georgia put a drive together and went into the fourth quarter at the Auburn 10 yard line. On the first play of the fourth quarter, tight end Aron White broke free amid a swarm of Auburn defenders and just lost the entire defense. Cox put it on the money and the score was 24-10.

The Tigers responded by going slow and deliberate, like most teams would do, and ended up with a 36-yard field goal on the ensuing possession, making it 27-10.

The Bulldogs took a minute and a half to make it 27-17. Cox completed passes of 12 yards and 13 yards to the Auburn 46-yard line. Auburn called an aggressive defense and A.J. Green was able to get behind everybody for a 46-yard bomb. He caught the ball at the three and stumbled into the end zone as the defense caught him.

Here it should be noted: Auburn had two horrible breaks in this game as first Kody Burns, then Heisman candidate Ben Tate went down for the game with injuries.

Auburn had the ball and a 10-point lead with 3:52 to go. After two short gains on the ground, Todd forced a pass to Harry Adams. Adams was pressured and the ball was tipped into the air. Strong safety Reshad Jones caught the ball, broke one tackle, and tried to head for paydirt but was caught at the 17-yard line.

Using the no huddle as they had much of the second half, Cox completed passes of 6 yards and 10 yards before Caleb King plunged into the end zone from one yard out to bring the Bulldogs to within a field goal, 27-24. Two minutes, 20 seconds remained in the game and the Bulldogs had one timeout.

Richt looked at the clock and decided to kick it rather than go for the onside kick. Auburn was again stopped on run attempts on first and second down. Georgia used their lone remaining timeout to stop the clock. Todd again tries for Adams on third an long, and overthrew his man by a good 10 yards. Auburn was forced to punt.

Georgia received the ball via the punt at the nine yard line, and had 1:10 remaining in the game with no timeouts. The Bulldogs planned on going to the no huddle with the thought of getting to the 35-40 yard line of Auburn, spiking it, and going for a long field goal that might tie the game. That required them to go 50 yards with no timeouts in just under a minute, in order to have enough time to spike the ball.

Cox completed passes of 11 yards, four yards, and five yards. On third and one at their own 33 yard line, Auburn decided to get aggressive. They sent a corner blitz. A.J. Green was basically matched up one-on-one with slot cornerback Walter McFadden. Cox saw the safety double down on slot receiver Kris Durham, and decided to go to Green, who was in single coverage. The pass was low and hard, not the way Cox wanted it, but McFadden couldn't get there. Green hauled in the pass and went 77 yards for the game-winning score as the Georgia Dome erupted in bedlam. Thirteen seconds remained on the clock, and no hope for the Tigers as they were down by four. Georgia made possibly the most amazing comeback in the their history to win the 2009 SEC Title.

"Time was running out there, and they decided they didn't want to face the possibility of overtime," said Richt after the game. "They gambled even though they had all the cards. I'm sure they'll be looking to put the screws to us next year, but we'll enjoy this SEC trophy."