Auburn stuns No. 1 Georgia 27-24 on last-second field goal
Web StoryWatch this story in 15 seconds →Key takeaways
- Auburn beat No. 1 Georgia 27-24 on Saturday, October 17, 2026, in Athens, Georgia.
- Alex McPherson kicked a 34-yard field goal as time ran out. Auburn won the game.
- A late fumble by Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton set up the winning kick.
Auburn beat No. 1 Georgia 27-24 on Saturday, October 17, 2026. The game took place at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia. Alex McPherson kicked the winning field goal as time ran out.
Auburn was unranked. Georgia was the top team in the country. The win shocked college football.
Google Trends showed about 500,000 searches for the game. Fans wanted to know the score. They wanted to know how Auburn pulled off the upset.
This article explains what happened, step by step. It uses plain words. No prior football knowledge is needed.
What happened
Georgia started fast. The Bulldogs scored first. They led 7-0 early in the first quarter.
Then they scored again. Georgia led 14-0. The home crowd felt good.
The game looked like a routine win for the top team.
Then the game flipped. Auburn scored 24 points in a row. The Tigers tied the game.
Then they took the lead. Auburn led 24-14 late in the third quarter. Georgia had no answer for a long stretch.
The Bulldogs did not score on five drives in a row. They punted three times. They missed a field goal.
They threw an interception. Auburn used each mistake.
Georgia also had a 54-yard field goal attempt blocked in the first half, ESPN reported. A blocked kick means the defense stops the ball. The kick never reaches the goal posts.
It was one more missed chance for Georgia.
Auburn quarterback Byrum Brown led the comeback. He ran for 115 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries. The Associated Press reported the stats.
He also threw a touchdown pass. Auburn ran the ball well all game. The Tigers outrushed Georgia 192-113, according to the Associated Press.
To outrush means to gain more yards on the ground.
Georgia fought back in the fourth quarter. Peyton Woodring kicked a 42-yard field goal. That cut the lead to 24-17.
Then Georgia drove 94 yards in 13 plays. Stockton threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to London Humphreys. That tied the game at 24-24 with under three minutes left.
Then came the biggest play of the game. Georgia got the ball back. Stockton ran with the ball.
He ran into his own center, Drew Bobo, according to ESPN. A center is the player who snaps the ball to the quarterback. Stockton lost the ball.
Auburn safety Sylvester Smith-Reed recovered it at the Auburn 44-yard line. Only 58 seconds remained.
It was Stockton's third turnover of the game. A turnover means losing the ball to the other team. He had already thrown two interceptions.
An interception is a pass caught by the other team. Now Auburn had the ball and a chance to win.
Auburn moved the ball down the field. A roughing-the-passer penalty on Georgia helped, according to ESPN. The penalty came with 14 seconds left.
Roughing the passer means hitting the quarterback too late or too hard. The penalty moved Auburn closer to the goal posts.
Then McPherson came on to kick. He kicked a 34-yard field goal. The ball went through the posts.
Time ran out. Auburn won 27-24. Auburn players ran onto the field to celebrate.
Why it matters
This was a huge upset. An upset is when a weaker team beats a stronger team. Auburn was an 18.5-point underdog, according to NBC Sports.
That means most people expected Georgia to win by about 18 points. Instead, Auburn won the game.
The loss ended two long streaks for Georgia. The Bulldogs had won nine straight games over Auburn, according to the Associated Press. They had also won 53 straight games over unranked teams.
An unranked team is one outside the top 25. Georgia had not lost to an unranked team since 2019.
The result also shook up the top of college football. It was the second straight week that the top team lost to an unranked team. The week before, Oklahoma beat top-ranked Texas.
The top-ranked team had not lost to unranked teams in back-to-back weeks since October 1990. The Associated Press reported that fact.
Georgia's short stay at the top is now over. The Bulldogs had just reached the top spot. They had beaten Alabama the week before.
Now they must wait for the new rankings. Other teams will move up.
BYU beat Notre Dame on the same day. Miami beat Florida State in double overtime.
The game also mattered for Auburn's coach. Alex Golesh is in his first year as Auburn's head coach. A first-year coach is new to the job.
After the game, he praised his defense. "Really the story of the game is three takeaways defensively," Golesh said, according to ESPN. A takeaway is when the defense wins the ball back.
Auburn forced three turnovers. All three changed the game.
The kicker's comeback story
McPherson's winning kick has a backstory. It makes the moment even bigger. In 2024, he had severe ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, according to NBC Sports.
These are illnesses of the gut. They cause pain and weight loss.
Doctors removed his entire large intestine. He lost 55 pounds. When he went to the hospital, he weighed 110 pounds.
Many people thought his football career was over. He fought back. He returned to full health.
In high school, he had kicked a 61-yard field goal. Now he is in his final year at Auburn.
After the winning kick, McPherson was stunned. It was his first-ever game-winning field-goal attempt.
"Honestly, I was like, did that just happen?" he said, according to ESPN.
His first try became a moment he will never forget.
His story shows why this game touched so many fans. It was not just an upset. It was a comeback.
A player who nearly lost his career kicked the biggest kick of his life. He did it against the top team in the country. He did it on the road.
He did it as time ran out.
What happens next
Auburn now has a record of 4-2, according to the Associated Press. The Tigers are 2-2 in the SEC. The SEC is the Southeastern Conference.
It is one of the top leagues in college football. Auburn will host LSU next week.
LSU is ranked 22nd, according to Fox News. To host means to play at home.
A win over LSU would keep Auburn's good run going.
Georgia now has a record of 6-1, according to the Associated Press. The Bulldogs are 4-1 in the SEC. Georgia has a week off next.
Then the Bulldogs face Florida on Halloween, according to Fox News. Georgia's goals are still in front of the team. The Bulldogs can still reach the playoffs.
The College Football Playoff picks the best teams at the end of the season. But Georgia can no longer afford many mistakes.
The rankings will change this week. Georgia will fall from the top spot. Auburn will likely enter the top 25.
The SEC race is now wide open. Several teams can still win the league. Fans can follow the undefeated teams left after Week 7.
That list shows who is still in the title race.
One game does not end a season. Georgia is still a strong team. Auburn is still growing under a new coach.
But on this Saturday in Athens, Auburn was better. One fumble, one penalty, and one kick decided it. That is why fans will talk about this game for a long time.
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