AUBURN | It wouldn’t have made a difference in Georgia’s domination of the line of scrimmage or the outcome of the game, but Auburn was without several key players in its 27-6 loss Saturday night at Sanford Stadium.

It began last Saturday when starting cornerback Jaylin Simpson injured his hamstring late in the Tigers’ 29-13 win over Kentucky. Last week’s SEC Freshman of the Week didn’t make the trip to Athens.

Two and a half minutes into the UGA game, safety Smoke Monday was ejected for a targeting call covering a punt, putting AU two starters down in its secondary.

“So just to lose him so quick, and we already came here short, down one,” said safety Jamien Sherwood, who led AU with 14 tackles. “You know, Simp really left his mark, coming in through fall camp, so to let him go down, that was a huge hurt.

“But, you know, it's always next man up. Everybody's ready to play whenever their number's called. But losing Smoke, that really was a big factor tonight.”

Veteran linebacker K.J. Britt managed 12 tackles despite playing with through a couple of injuries.

“Just have a few nicks and bruises,” Britt said. “I've been fighting this hand for all week, but I'm fine. My shoulder just kept going on, but it's fine.”

On offense, running back Shaun Shivers, last week’s starter, was unable to play and veteran wide receiver Eli Stove suffered an early injury.

"Worm, he got hurt in last week's game,” said Auburn coach Gus Malzahn of Shivers. “He really didn't practice much. We tried him in pregame -- he wasn't really ready to go. Eli got knocked out of the game early on and wasn't able to return. So hopefully we'll get those guys back. Obviously those are two of our top guys on offense.”

Wide receiver Shedrick Jackson returned from an injury to start for the first time this season, but didn’t catch a pass. Freshman Tank Bigsby started his first-career game at tailback, rushing for 31 yards on eight carries and catching seven passes for 68 yards.

Nehemiah Pritchett started in place of Simpson and finished with two tackles. Jordyn Peters stepped in for Monday at safety and had 13 tackles and one pass breakup.

Auburn hosts Arkansas next Saturday at 3 p.m. CT on SEC Network.