In a highly-anticipated matchup at Sanford Stadium, Auburn fell flat to Georgia.

The Tigers lost 27-6, and were unable to get anything going on offense, mustering just 216 total yards. Head coach Gus Malzahn acknowledged the poor performance in his postgame media availability, sharing the strong message he sent to his players after the game.

“I think sometimes you just have to man up and you’ve got to see it like it was” said Malzahn. “Like I said in my opening statement, they got after us. They got after us in all three phases. They out-coached us. It’s a team loss. Also, we’ve got a young, inexperienced team that can grow. And we will grow. And they competed.

“I just said, ‘Hey, this is adversity. We’ve got eight more SEC games. It’s going to be a grind. Our team has potential to improve greatly, and we will. Just keep your head up and take it like it is. They got the best of us, but we’re still capable of being a good team and I really believe we will be here moving forward.’”

The message carried a spark of positivity at the end, as Malzahn tried to rally his players to respond as they host Arkansas next Saturday.

Auburn at times did not look like they belonged on the same field as Georgia on Saturday, but it will have plenty of opportunities to prove its worth against an SEC slate stacked with ranked opponents this season.