Georgia recap, quarter the first

The 112th edition. Bring it.

First quarter

1. Morgan Hull draws kickoff duties and to start Auburn off on the right foot ... it's a hideous squib that by all rights should bounce its way out of bounds. Hull -. Auburn catches a break when it somehow rolls into the corner and is picked up at the 5, giving Great Story Pybus and others (ST +) a chance to tackle at the 17.

2. Georgia in the I on their first play from scrimmage ... WORST FEARS CONFIRMED. It's a lead draw over the left side, Doolittle (-) and Coleman are annihilated on the line, Evans gets blown up by Southerland, Bynes (-) is savaged by a lineman, and Moreno is nine yards downfield before he's even touched. Auburn, please do something immediately to assure me this isn't going to happen all damn game.

3. That's not what I was looking for. Georgia finds just as much open space on the long handoff to the flanker as WVU and Ole Miss did. McFadden gets cut and A.J. Green strolls for 13. Not too exercised about it--still think I'd rather Rhoads play off, keep Stafford from connecting on the bomb, and hope UGA screws it up or is too proud to keep going back to the well.

4. Spread. Draw to Moreno, Bynes (-) is unblocked but reacts slowly and then barely even slows Moreno down as he dashes by. Not a strong start for our linebackers, to say the least.

5. Southerland motions into an offset I, play-action, Stafford looks for Massaquoi deep down the right sideline. Decent coverage by McFadden, but there's maybe a window if Stafford can lay it in there in the wind. He can't.

6. Auburn lines up five on the LOS vs. the I, slant towards the playside, and have Johnson (+) recover from taking an initial wide angle to grab Moreno by the waist as he crosses the line--and he still pulls forward for a solid five.

7. First 3rd down of the game. Two-back shotgun. Clayton gets a nice bull rush but it's all for naught--Green has come well open on the curl (cover -) with Thorpe in man-to-man. Tough play there, but Thorpe (-) loses sympathy by taking a poor angle and allowing Thorpe to gain another 14 yards.

8. 1st-10 Georgia on the AU 11; so far six Dawg plays have netted 72 yards. Ewwww. Auburn gets a bit unlucky on this one--they slant heavily towards the strong side only for Georgia to run the lead over the other side, where the blitzing Bynes and Stevens are the only defense against another wide open crease. They're blocked, but Coleman (+) does an outstanding job to avoid a cut, reverse field, and tackle a spinning Moreno. Gain of 4, could have been worse.

9. Decent play by Auburn here; Moreno's slowed first by Johnson blitzing off the edge and getting a hand on him as he hits the line, then by Marks (+) having shoved his guy into the hole. Moreno spins and doesn't have the balance to elude Stevens after picking up 4.

10. 3rd-3 from the 4. Endzone jumpball to Green working against McFadden, and McFadden (+, cover +) times his shove perfectly--too early and it's a flag, too late and it's too late, but this one comes right after Green makes the grab and puts his foot well out-of-bounds. Huge stop.

11. BLOCKED! They blocked it! No points after that terrifying drive! Doolittle just plows his way through the middle of the lie and swats it. Nothin' fancy. Good job by McFadden to pick up some extra yards, too. (ST +)

12. Auburn opens in the I on their 22. Georgia opens with--I sh*t you not--nine guys in the box if you count the safety that's ostensibly over the slot but staring directly into the backfield. Fannin gets the start and the handoff, and not surprisingly given the "nine guys in the box" thing, finds a linebacker in the intended hole. But Berry and Bosley (line +) have their guys totally stoned and Fannin (+) makes the right read, cutting back and scooting between them for 6.

13. Ace, 3-WR after Fannin motions out. Weird play--think this is supposed to be a stop-and-go to Fannin with Burns pump-faking on the stop, but Burns doesn't even take a second step before trying to pump. Between that and a stout push from the UGA line (line -), Burns is way too crowded and off-balance to get anything on the throw, which is a mile out of bounds.

14. Spread on 3rd-4. The QB keeper everyone in the stadium knows is coming comes, and it works anyway--it's a sweep right with Fannin as the lead blocker, and even though Fannin doesn't block a soul he decoys the unblocked Curran so far outside Burns has a cutback lane thanks to Pugh riding his guy down the line and Berry pancaking/possibly dragging his guy to the ground (line +). Even then it takes a nice move from Burns (+) to avoid a tackle and pick up the first.

15. 1st-10 on the 33, I-formation. Eight in the box and Georgia blitzes two to the strong side--which, unfortunately, is where the play is going. Davis meets his guy two yards in the backfield rather than at the LOS and by the time Fannin's skipped around them, the other LBs have closed and tackle for no gain. Auburn will have to start throwing on first down or there's going to be a lot of this. After the play, Fannin's ticked at what he thinks was a quick "forward progress" whistle, but I'm fine with it--the result of a later whistle is a fumble a lot more times than it's "ball carrier suddenly breaks free for positive yardage."

16. Spread. Burns drops back, has a pocket (line +), and has to check down to Fannin for 2.

17. 3rd-8. Spread. Burns rolls right and again, no one's open. He slips forward for three and Auburn will punt. Honestly, I'd much rather Burns tuck it and live to fight another day than launch one into coverage.

18. Man, the ball's been bouncing Auburn's way on special teams so far. Durst hangs one up in the wind that's only about a 35-yarder, but it slips past the return guy and boings its way down to the 6. Sweet.

19. Georgia in the ace and they run that snazzy little counter play they like where Stafford holds out the ball one way and then actually hands it off to Moreno the other. Auburn could maybe do a better job up front, but McNeil (-) is nonetheless in position to tackle and make this a gain of 1 or 2; he misses, gain of 15.

20. The Dawg line screws up and lets Clayton (-) in untouched on Moreno; he whiffs. Decent job by Evans of standing up to the tackle at the point-of-attack, causing Moreno to lose his balance a bit and allow Etheridge to tackle after a gain of 4.

21. Weird formation from Auburn; three down linemen, an LB lined up over the TE on the strong side, and then three more linebackers--including a shifted-in Etheridge--bunched in the middle of the field. With the corners covering twins to one side, the closest member of the secondary to Massaquoi on the opposite side is Thorpe 10 yards off the LOS; Stafford just throws a bolt seven yards downfield and MoMass catches and makes the first with ease. I think this is a mistake in alignment; pre-snap, Bynes seems to motion to Etheridge to edge wider (and into position, theoretically, to cut off this exact throw) and Etheridge barely moves.

22. Auburn's going to have to move a safety into the box, 'cause the front seven's just getting mauled at this point. Seven Dawg blockers take on seven Tiger defenders and Georgia goes 7-for-7; Moreno into the secondary again, gain of 19. Why is Coleman lined up so much wider than the DTs, and if he's going to do that, why is no LB sliding over to cover for him? (This is exactly where the play goes, of course.)

23. Moreno out, thank heavens. Marks (+) gets a good push down the line and swipes at replacement RB as he passes the LOS, causing him to wobble a bit and giving Etheridge (-) an excellent opportunity to tackle for a gain or only 2. He misses. McNeil cleans up after 6.

24. FINALLY. Doolittle (+) breaks into the backfield and bumps Southerland as replacement RB follows him; the bump allows Bynes (+) a free shot he's happy to take advantage. Solid lick, loss of 1.

25. 3rd-5, Auburn 41. Massaquoi catches after coming wide open on the curl, but do you know why he's wide open on the curl? Offensive pass interference, that's why.

26. 3rd-20, and Georgia runs up the white flag on the drive with a draw to Moreno. (With wideouts and a QB like this: why?) He runs around a bit but never really threatens to break loose. Gain of 8, Dawgs will punt.

27. Goodness f'ing gracious. Dunn fields at the 15 and then goes back and forth between which lane to take about, oh, six different times. Result: tackled at the 4. Horrible.

28. I. Play-action, deep to Slaughter ... excellent coverage and the pass was nowhere near him (Burns -). Nice call (if you ask me), poor execution.

29. Ace, twins to the weak side, and I think Burns needs to check out of this rush with Tate to the strong side: not only does UGA have the requisite eight in the box, the extra d-lineman is on that side and the LBs are shifted that way. No matter, play's run anyway, and as expected gains 2 when Green's a little late cutting Daniel Ellerbe in the hole.

30. 3rd-8 on the Auburn 7.5; a first would be huge. The weird unblocked attempted screen to Fannin is not huge; Curran reads it and snuffs it immediately. Just a nice play by him; if he doesn't read this Fannin appears to have enough room in front of him for the first.

31. Durst lines up at the back of his end zone, heavy rush ... they got him! Flag! First down, and ... HOLY HELL he dropped the punt! Auburn recovers the fumble for what seems like the first time this season! Wow, Auburn may have finally found a team that sucks at special teams just as badly as they do. (I'll say this: at least they got their money's worth on the roughing flag. No soccer-flopping from Durst on this one.)

32. 1st-10, Auburn 49. I, Fannin as the FB. Would you like to take a guess as to why Fannin is the FB? Because it's the patented Borges play-action wheel route, and when the line (+) gives Burns plenty of time he finds Fannin wide slap open. It's not a great or even good pass--instead of hitting him in stride, Fannin has to slow and come towards the center of the field to make the catch--but Fannin (+) makes the best of it and then some, cutting back all the way across the field and picking up an excellent block from Smith (+) for the TOUCHDOWN! Man, do I love that play. It's like Sex Panther--60 percent of the time, it works every time.

33. You've got to be kidding me. Clayton Crofoot drops the snap on the extra point. Clayton Crofoot. Drops. The. Snap. Clayton Crofoot. Why can nothing ever, ever come easily for this team? 6-0, Auburn.

34. Hull drops it at the 16. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt this is the wind.

35. 1st-10 Dawgs on their own 31. Yet another long handoff, yet another simple gain of 15 as McFadden (-) gets shoved around by the lone blocker. Depressingly easy.

End first quarter

Second quarter tomorrow. These things get too long if I don't break them up, I've decided.