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ATHENS, Georgia (Ticker) -- Freshman Carnell Williams rushed for 167 yards and two touchdowns and Auburn had a pair of goal-line stands in the fourth quarter to post a 24-17 Southeastern Conference victory over No. 21 Georgia. Williams scored on his second one-yard plunge of the contest for a 24-17 lead with 6:47 left. His score capped a five-play, 77-yard drive for Auburn (7-2, 5-1 SEC) and featured a 61-yard screen pass from Daniel Cobb to Williams that took the ball to the one. "We took a lot of flack about not being able to play on the road," Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said. "Our defense played outstanding tonight." Georgia (5-3, 4-3) drove to the Auburn 12 on its next possession for a first down. But after a short gain by Jasper Sanks, David Greene threw three straight incompletions. After a short punt by the Tigers, the Bulldogs began their final possession on the Auburn 45-yard line with 70 seconds left and no timeouts. Greene found Terrence Edwards for a 22-yard gain for a 1st-and-goal at the Auburn 1 with 16 seconds left. Sanks was stuffed at the goal line and time expired before it could get off another play. "We had 16 seconds left," Georgia coach Mark Richt said. "Strategically, it was the wrong thing to do. We could have run a play throwing it in the end zone or throwing it away. We could have gotten more plays." "I was not surprised they ran the ball against us," Auburn defensive back Roderick Hood said. "On previous plays, they ran some draws against us and we were ready for them to run." Williams carried a season-high 41 times for his second straight 100-yard effort. He gained 177 yards on October 27 against Arkansas. "I never carried the ball as much as I did tonight," Williams said. "I did not realize I had as many carries as I did. By the end of the third quarter, I began to get tired and I told myself to suck it up and play hard in the fourth quarter." Cobb, who began his college career at Georgia before going to junior college and eventually to Auburn, completed 14-of-22 for 193 yards and one touchdown. Cobb was sacked six times for losses totaling 43 yards. Defensive end Charles Grant had four sacks for the Bulldogs. "Coach VanGorder (the defensive coordinator) and the other coaches did a great job of getting us prepared and putting us in the position to make plays," Grant said. Greene completed 15-of-32 passes for 292 yards and one touchdown, including touchdown passes of 67 yards to Fred Gibson and 57 yards to Edwards in the first half as the Bulldogs built a 14-7 halftime lead. "They played great on defense and we did not execute the way we wanted to on offense," Greene said. "We knew we were in the game the whole time. We came close but not close enough." Greene's touchdown to Gibson came just 58 seconds into the game for a 7-0 lead. Auburn took advantage of a fumble by Kenny Bailey to go nine plays and 59 yards with Williams carrying seven times, including a one-yard TD run to tie the game at the end of the first quarter. Neither team mustered much in the second quarter but Greene used some great play-action to find a streaking Edwards with 8:23 left before halftime. Both of Auburn's safeties bit on the fake. "(Georgia) ran some things defensively tonight that they have not run before," Tuberville said. "Our game plan was to keep our defense off the field in the first half. We wanted the defense to be fresh in the second half." Auburn evened the contest at 14-14 on Cobb's three-yard touchdown pass to Robert Johnson with 9:31 left in the third quarter. Damon Duval's 31-yard field goal gave the Tigers their first lead before Georgia tied the game on a 43-yard field goal from Billy Bennett with 8:28 to go in the game. The Tigers shut down Georgia's running game, allowing just 73 yards on 27 carries. Musa Smith was held to 29 yards on 10 carries. Edwards had six receptions for 124 yards while Gibson gained 111 yards on a pair of carries. Each team gained 375 yards.
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