Two-minute, too late

AUBURN | Trailing 21-0 to start the fourth quarter, Auburn blitzed Georgia for 158 yards with its two-minute offense, coming up just short as its final two drives ended on downs.

The 4th-ranked Bulldogs held on for a 21-14 win over the 12th-ranked Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

“On our two-minute drives there’s always a sense of urgency from an offense and you know you have to put points up when it’s a two-minute drive. Two-minute drives you know you have to execute,” said wide receiver Seth Williams, who had 13 receptions for 121 yards in the game including four catches for 50 yards in the fourth.

Auburn started the fourth with a 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drive and followed that up with a 5-play, 57-yard drive that took just 1:08. Suddenly the Tigers were right back in it, and their defense was in the midst of forcing UGA into three consecutive three-and-outs.

Nix was an impressive 13 of 20 for 123 yards with one touchdown in the fourth as AU went four- and five-wide. Auburn’s two-minute is similar to what Nix ran in high school and it was obvious the true freshman was comfortable running at that high of a tempo in the fourth.

“Just quick throws and stuff like that. Getting the ball to playmakers,” Nix said. “I feel like we did a really good job with that. That opened up the running plays.”

The Tigers had 35 of their 84 rushing yards in the fourth quarter.

Gus Malzahn, whose team was shutout for the first three quarters of a game for the first time at Auburn, was asked afterwards if he regrets not going to the two-minute offense earlier. He didn’t give a firm answer.

“We were just trying to get a feel for the game,” Malzahn said. “We thought we could do some things in the third quarter. We came out, and we tried to spread them out and run the football, and we thought we could. And we got down there, I guess to the 40 right there, and of course we didn't get any points. Then we got the short field after their punt. I think they had a 15-yard penalty. Got the ball on the 40-yard line. So we took a shot, and it kind of went outside right there.

“But we're just trying to be aggressive. Trying to get an explosive play at that point. But fourth quarter, we got some first downs. We got in some rhythm. We played good football fourth quarter.”

Malzahn has insisted all season that Auburn is a run, play-action team. Is that still the case?

“Yeah, I mean, I think to a certain point,” he said. “But at the same time, you know, you have to spread it out and you have to throw it. Each team is a little different. When we got some momentum going, we were able to move it.”

Auburn’s second to last drive, which ended on downs, was agonizingly close to being successful. Nix converted a 4th and 5 with an 8-yard run to set AU up with a first down on the UGA 42-yard line. After a 3-yard completion on first down, he found Williams for a 17-yard gain down the sidelines, which was initially ruled a catch before being overturned on review.

After a 5-yard Nix run, his pass on 4th and 2 bounced off the hands of Harold Joiner.

“If I just put it out in front of him he probably gets down inside the red zone and the outcome of the game changes,” Nix said.

Auburn got the ball back with 2:03 left, but Nix threw four consecutive incompletions to end AU’s chances.

The Tigers, which fall to 7-3 on the season, will host Samford at next Saturday at 11 a.m. CT.