No. 15 Georgia (8-2, 6-2 SEC) was well on its way to a 34-7 victory over No. 9 Auburn (7-3, 4-3 SEC) and keeping its SEC East hopes alive for at least another week. None of that seemed to matter with just about five minutes and change to play. It was at that point time stood still for Georgia fans as Todd Gurley went to the ground with what appeared to be an injury to his left leg.
Gurley was taken off the field with some help from the medical staff and was seen placing ice around his left knee. It was not a good look, but it is too early to suggest the extent of the injury. Fortunately for Georgia, the Bulldogs have learned to win without Gurley and Nick Chubb is a big reason why. On Saturday night between the hedges, Gurley was the story by returning after a four-game suspension, but it was Chubb who had the slightly more significant impact on offense. Chubb rushed for 144 yards and two touchdowns to go with Gurley’s 138 yards and one touchdown. It was a perfectly balanced ground game that Auburn never stood a chance of slowing down, especially the way Auburn tackled (or didn’t tackle).
Auburn opened the scoring with a touchdown on the opening possession of the game, but it was all Georgia from there. Having a balanced running game with Gurley and Chubb was just too much for Auburn to handle, as it would be for any team lining up on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Georgia went on to run away with this game on the strength of the running duo’s production and 34 unanswered points.
With the Georgia running game working so effectively, Hutson Mason never had to do too much under center other than hand the ball off. Hutson ended his night completing 10 of 19 attempts for 123 yards and a touchdown. His counterpart for Auburn, Nick Marshall, was not much better with 11-of-23 attempts and one interception. Marshall also rushed for 41 yards.
Georgia still needs Missouri to lose a game in SEC play in order to make a trip to the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta. Missouri entered the week with a one-game lead in the division, and Georgia is now done with SEC play.
Georgia will host Charleston Southern next week in non-conference play before prepping for a rivalry game with Georgia Tech. Georgia gets their rivals from the ACC at home, and both teams could be playing in their respective conference championship games the following week.
Auburn will host Samford next week before playing on the road at Alabama in the final week of the regular season. Auburn will have a good chance to play spoiler in that game as Alabama could be locking down the SEC West and a trip to Atlanta in addition to remaining in the College Football Playoff driver’s seat.