AUBURN, Ala. – Quarterback Matthew Stafford hit freshman A.J. Green for what turned out to be the winning touchdown for the second straight week in Georgia’s 17-13 win over Auburn Saturday, but the real story coming in was the Bulldog defense.

Much-maligned after surrendering 125 points in its last three games, the Bulldogs stopped the Tiger offense after it drove all the way to the Georgia 14 on the final drive of the game.

“It was a total team effort today, and it gave [the defense] some opportunities to show some greatness late,” said defensive coordinator Willie Martinez.

The previous week against Kentucky, the Wildcats drove to the Bulldogs’ 13-yard line before Demarcus Dobbs made an acrobatic interception to seal the 42-38 win.

“It came to the wire just like last week, two minutes left, and who was on the field?” asked defensive tackle Corvey Irvin. “Georgia defense.”

Last week, Irvin said he set three goals for his defense, but didn’t reveal what they were until postgame Saturday: “Keep them under 100 [yards rushing], a shutout, and just to play with some passion.”

Here’s how the Bulldogs fared, and a look at how they might do against their next opponent, Georgia Tech.

STEP 1: Hold Auburn under 100 yards rushing.

The Bulldogs didn’t quite manage this, holding Auburn to 124 yards on the ground. A week after allowing Kentucky’s Randall Cobb to gash them for 82 on the ground, they did hold Tiger quarterback Kodi Burns to 28 yards on 14 carries, and 35 of Mario Fannin’s 59 yards came on one touchdown run.

Georgia Tech’s “perfect option” is averaging more than 250 yards a game on the ground, best in the ACC and No. 8 in the country. Tailback Jonathan Dwyer leads the conference with 105.6 rushing yards a game, and quarterback Josh Nesbitt is ninth at 62.2.

“It’s so different the way [Georgia Tech] runs the option and the way Kentucky runs the option,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “It’s a whole different animal.”

STEP 2: A shutout.

Georgia didn’t manage a goose egg, but it did allow its fewest points since holding South Carolina to only a touchdown in Week 3. Auburn’s offense has admittedly struggled all season, ranking 106th in the country in scoring offense (19.5 points per game) coming into its matchup with Georgia.

“The last couple weeks people were putting up 38, 40, 50 on us, and they got 13 points,” Irvin said. “We were pretty satisfied with that.”

The Yellow Jackets are averaging 22.8 points per game, which is good enough for sixth in the ACC.

STEP 3: Have fun.

Georgia’s defense appeared to be playing with passion, perhaps a little too much – the Bulldogs had four personal fouls, two of which were offsetting, that all came on defensive players. But they did seem a little more into it, Irvin said.

“We were playing with emotion, we were having fun,” he said. “When [corner] Asher [Allen] got that pass interference [on Auburn's final drive of the game], we didn’t hang our heads low, we didn’t get down in the dumps. We bowed our neck and we attacked and we kept them out of the end zone.”

Emotion shouldn’t be a problem against Tech, with the Bulldogs going for an eighth straight win over their in-state foe. That would be a series record for consecutive wins.

The Yellow Jackets also have a defense that could give an inconsistent Georgia offense some fits, ranking No. 11 in the country in scoring D.

The Bulldogs finished SEC play at 6-2 for the second straight season and with the final leg of a four-week road trip over, have a much-needed bye week before their post-Thanksgiving matchup with the Yellow Jackets.

“Definitely glad it’s over,” linebacker Rennie Curran said. “We got the bye week now.”