Auburn tops No. 1 Georgia 27-24 on Alex McPherson's last-second field goal

Auburn walks off with it

Auburn beat No. 1 Georgia 27-24 at Sanford Stadium in Athens on a 34-yard field goal from Alex McPherson as time expired. The kick capped a back-and-forth fourth quarter in front of the home crowd.

Georgia had the ball and was driving for a potential go-ahead field goal of its own. Quarterback Gunner Stockton fumbled on a run from the Auburn 46 with 58 seconds left, and Auburn safety Sylvester Smith-Reed recovered it at the Auburn 44. A roughing-the-passer penalty on Georgia's Gabe Harris Jr. then helped set up McPherson's winning kick.

How the scoreboard got there

Georgia jumped out front first. Dwight Phillips Jr. opened the game with a 15-yard touchdown run, and Gunner Stockton found Lawson Luckie for a 24-yard score to make it 0-14 in the first quarter. Auburn answered before the period ended when Christian Neptune hit Keshaun Singleton for a 24-yard touchdown, cutting it to 7-14.

Chas Nimrod's 9-yard touchdown catch from Byrum Brown tied it at 14-14 in the second quarter, and Alex McPherson added a 49-yard field goal to put Auburn up 17-14 at the half. Byrum Brown punched in a 5-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to make it 24-14. Georgia's Peyton Woodring kicked a 42-yard field goal in the fourth to get within 24-17, and Stockton capped a 94-yard, 13-play drive with a 4-yard touchdown pass to London Humphreys to tie it 24-24 with under three minutes left, setting up McPherson's final kick.

The numbers behind it

Byrum Brown ran for 115 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries and threw for 150 yards and a touchdown on 15-of-26 passing. Chas Nimrod led Auburn receivers with 6 catches for 60 yards and a score. Linebacker Elijah Melendez led Auburn with 9 tackles and a sack.

For Georgia, Gunner Stockton threw for 272 yards and 2 touchdowns on 22-of-34 passing but was picked off twice. Dwight Phillips Jr. ran for 68 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries, and Craig Dandridge caught 4 passes for 88 yards. Linebacker Raylen Wilson led all tacklers with 10, and Josh Horton had a sack. Georgia out-gained Auburn 440 yards to 366 and had more first downs, 24 to 23, but Auburn won on the ground, 192 rushing yards to 113, and did not turn the ball over, while Georgia gave it away three times.

What it means

The loss snapped Georgia's nine-game winning streak against Auburn and ended a 53-game streak of beating unranked opponents. It also marked the second straight week a No. 1 team lost to an unranked foe, after Texas fell to Oklahoma the previous Saturday.

Auburn first-year coach Alex Golesh said after the win, "I'm really proud of our guys." He added, "We're going to build Auburn back to where everybody wants it." Georgia coach Kirby Smart pointed to the turnovers, saying, "We helped them." He added, "We had three turnovers and critical penalties."

Facts per ESPN box score. Opinion is the taproom's.