I was on sidebar duty tonight (David Hale, Georgia beat writer took the lead for the game story). To keep this mostly from an Auburn perspective, here's how my sidebar for tomorrow's newspaper starts:

ATHENS, Ga. — Auburn's offense looked unstoppable on its first two drives Saturday night at Georgia.

It looked anything but the rest of the game.

Gus Malzahn's up-tempo attack was feast or famine in the Tigers' 31-24 loss to the Bulldogs, showing the best and the worst the offensive coordinator's system has to offer.

Auburn gained 156 yards and scored two touchdowns on its first two drives.

It took a U-turn after that. The Tigers scored 10 more points in the game. Seven came on a 99-yard kickoff return by Demond Washington.

"We got off to a good start, which we needed to," Malzahn said. "Then we kind of stalled."

My gosh, deadline game are annoying. Of course there are better quotes that come out once I send my story. Here are some notes and quotes following the game ...

• Bizarre offensive game for Auburn. Malzahn said the first two drives were about as good as the Tigers have looked this year. But they had only 197 yards of offense in the final 3½ quarters, which results in only points by the offense (not counting Washington's kick return, obviously). Malzahn said Georgia pushed its safeties back to help against the pass. Auburn, the 10th best rushing offense in the country, couldn't capitalize, finishing with 115 yards on the ground.

• Of course, this quote by running back Ben Tate would have been perfect for my story. I got it too late, though. "The way we came out in the first quarter, we was on fire," he said. "Then we just kind of fizzled out. We just have to learn how to keep our foot down on the peddle and finish teams.”

• QB Chris Todd completed his first nine passes, a week after completing his first 14 against Furman. He finished 20-for-28, meaning he was 11 for his last 19, with two interceptions, one when his arm was hit and another when he and Darvin Adams had a miscommunication on the route.

• The Tigers appeared to have things turned around on the final drive but were done in by their own penalties. An illegal motion flag negated a long pass from Kodi Burns to Terrell Zachery on a trick play. On its last gasp, Auburn dropped a pass over the middle (in fairness it was a hard hit to Mario Fannin), got sacked, was flagged for a false start penalty and threw an incomplete desperation pass on fourth down. "When the game was in our hands to win, we didn’t help ourselves with penalties," Auburn coach Gene Chizik said.

• Tough play for LB Josh Bynes, who had a surefire interception bounce off his hands and into the arms of a Georgia player for a 34-yard gain. It was third down. Simply knocking it down would have at least given Auburn possession. Instead, Georgia went down t he feild and got a touchdown run by Washaun Ealey to take a 17-14 lead. "It wasn’t for lack of effort," defensive coordinator Ted Roof said. "As a coach, you just go back to work and keep working with your kids and keep teaching and keep working to find a way to make it instead of almost make it. It wasn’t from lack of effort. He was in good position and just couldn’t finish play.”

• Roof, on the difference in the game: "They made some explosive plays, and that’s how you lose football games. When we’ve won our games, we haven’t given up explosive plays."

• Lost in the shuffle was the huge return game by Washington, who returned a kickoff 99 yards for a score. He finished with 202 kick return yards, breaking the school record of 182 set by Tristan Davis last year against Arkansas. "It feels good to return but anytime you return it and you don’t win it doesn’t mean anything," he said.

• Scary moment right at the end, when Georgia safety Bacarri Rambo had to be immobilized and carted off the field in a scene eerily reminiscent of Auburn safety Zac Etheridge's injury a few weeks ago. "That is just one of those scary situations," Chizik said. "We lived that two weeks ago, and we hope he is OK. Our thoughts are prayers are with him and his family."

• What does this mean for Auburn's postseason? Well, at 7-4, 3-4 SEC, the Cotton Bowl, barring an unlikely win against No. 3 Alabama in two weeks, appears to be out. The Chick-fil-A Bowl is looking unlikely too, with LSU, Ole Miss, Georgia all looking as though they'll be better options, and Arkansas lurking with a 6-4 overall record. If I had to guess, I'd say Music City Bowl or Liberty Bowl, assuming the Tigers can't beat the Crimson Tide. I also wouldn't rule out the Independence Bowl.
  

• Tate summed up the team's frustration afterward: "I feel bad. If I had a $1 million in my bank account I would of bet $1 million that we would come down here and win this game. You couldn’t convince me we weren’t going to come out and beat these boys. I felt like there was no way we were going to lose this game. I felt bad for coming out. I didn’t play great. I didn’t play good at all, probably the worst game I’ve played all year. And we lose the game and I finish my career 0-4 against Georgia."