Film Room: How drops hurt Auburn vs. UGA — and in the first half of the season

The Tigers had chances go right through their hands, literally, on Saturday. And this isn't anything new for this offense in 2021.

(Todd Van Emst/Auburn Athletics)

Auburn’s double-digit loss to Georgia on Saturday shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone.

Georgia is built on elite recruiting talent, is in the midst of Year 6 under Kirby Smart and has been playing like the best team in college football so far in 2021. Auburn is a couple of tiers below Georgia in the Blue-Chip Ratio, is currently in Year 1 under Bryan Harsin and has been searching for consistency on both sides of the ball. For the most part, the result lined up with that setup.

But upsets or near-upsets happen all the time. An unranked Texas A&M team, left for dead after losses to Arkansas and Mississippi State, beat No. 1 Alabama a few hours after Auburn’s 34-10 loss to No. 2 Georgia.

Harsin preaches the importance of “controlling what you can control” — things that impact a game that have little to do with your opponent. And if there was a controllable that drew the ire of Auburn and its fans after the Georgia loss, it was definitely the drops.

“The…