The sun had begun to set over Jordan-Hare Stadium — on Auburn’s push so close toward a years-long wait for a moment of glory — and Hugh Freeze sat down in Auburn’s media area next to the locker room to grapple with the shot he’d lost. The stands over his head emptied upward toward South Donahue instead of forward onto the field.

Assuredly, there was toilet paper ready and waiting to be hurled on oak trees that had never seen a moment like this in their short lives.

The scoreboard read No. 1 Georgia 27, Auburn 20. Auburn has pushed the best team in the nation to the brink. But this started a week ago.

It started in a similar media room underneath Kyle Field in a game where Auburn had never looked so promising. Auburn lost 27-10 to Texas A&M seven days ago. Auburn didn’t score a touchdown. It left the game with quarterback questions and as Freeze said on Monday after Auburn’s first loss, no swagger on offense.

“Yeah we’re searching, truthfully,” Freeze said Monday. “That’s one of the things, I think we’ve got to get more swagger on the offensive side.”

So the goals were quite simple. Auburn didn’t have an identity on offense. It had to figure out how it would call plays and how it would help Payton Thorne feel comfortable in the pocket.

At a period of practice on Tuesday open to reporters, Freeze was especially keyed in on Auburn’s wide receivers. He knew Thorne was going to need help and part of that comes from solidifying wide receiver positioning and route running.

“I feel like we had a lot better week of practice this week,” running back Brian Battie said after the Georgia loss. “Everybody was locked in. I mean, you can’t really ask for any more out of us as far as practice and playing out there.”

Through it all, Freeze talked about Auburn’s talent gap. He isn’t afraid to say Auburn’s roster now isn’t on par with Georiga’s. His long-term plan is to get there. But throughout the week he discussed his previous upsets in his time at Ole Miss and Liberty. In his self-titled “truth meeting” this week, Freeze made sure to tell his team they were the underdog, and use that to focus on how it could win.

Auburn’s fans didn’t care. This is the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry. It didn’t matter that Auburn hadn’t beaten Georgia in its last six tries coming into this game — let alone Auburn only coming within two scores of Georgia only once in that span — this season that began with a lasting optimism around a new coach brought hope that Auburn could somehow turn around its ugliest performance of the year against the number one team in America.

The sun rose on Saturday. The traffic into Auburn formed. Dozens of high-level recruits filed into the Harbert Family Recruiting Center. Auburn made this one of its signature recruiting days for the atmosphere of Jordan-Hare Stadium. It delivered.

Then the Auburn legends arrived. Walk around the sidelines before the game to see Charles Barkley, Suni Lee, Frank Thomas and Cam Newton. Newton went over to take photos with a boisterous student section.

Truly it was a boisterous Jordan-Hare Stadium packed up to the uppermost corners with orange-clad fans and orange shakers.

With an atmosphere like this, to have a chance, Auburn had to start fast. It did.

Freeze said he approved every play call on offense, so it made sense to see Auburn running more of the run-pass-option plays he relies on. On Auburn’s second drive, quarterback Payton Thorne got the crowd riled up for the first time in the game with a 61-yard run. Auburn would kick a field goal on that drive.

Then Jaylin Simpson intercepted a Carson Beck pass in his first road game as Georgia’s starting quarterback. The orange shakers shook violently. Auburn scored a touchdown off the turnover.

Auburn led the two-time defending champions 10-0 in the second quarter just like that. It was a ballgame. The crowd knew it. Auburn’s sideline truly believed.

“You have a chance to beat the No. 1 team in the country — back-to-back national champions — at home,” Freeze said Saturday. “The feeling that you get if you can pull that off is just ecstatic.”

Georgia would come back and tie the game before halftime. Auburn went down the field with a chance to score again before halftime and after getting to the Georiga 12-yard line, turned the ball over on downs. It sacrificed a chance at three points.

“It’s what the analytics said in this game,” Freeze said. “We had to be very aggressive.”

That’s where these types of upset bids tend to fade. Home underdog gives highly highly-ranked opponent a run in the first half, then the better team takes over.

Georgia had the momentum when it got the ball to start the second half and proceeded to fumble on the very first play. Defensive tackle Marcus Harris forced it and linebacker Jalen McLeod recovered it.

“It gave us juice,” McLeod said. “The offense came right back and scored. It gave us a huge momentum boost.”

Robby Ashford ran in for a touchdown. When it seemed like the dam was about to break, Auburn led again, 17-10. And if Jordan-Hare Stadium had a roof, it was proverbially blown off when it appeared Georgia had fumbled again on its first pay of the next drive. Replay review showed Georgia didn’t, but belief still reigned strong.

The thought of a field storm had shifted from hypothetically to realistically. Auburn is 5-12 against No. 1-ranked teams. A respective record. It had done this before.

Georiga kept pushing. The tipping point for Auburn seemed to draw closer and closer but Auburn never fell off the edge. Auburn would tie the game at 20.

But it wasn’t going to find an answer for Brock Bowers.

“We got them out of their element for a little bit, and they got back into it in the fourth quarter,” McLeod said.

Bowers had four catches for 121 yards in the fourth quarter including the game-winning 40-yard touchdown.

Auburn had finally tipped. Thorne got the ball back with a chance to go drive down the field and tie or win the game. Auburn got near midfield after a 22-yard pass to Rivaldo Fairweather.

Auburn pushed Georiga to the edge on a day where it didn’t play with total function on offense. Freeze called the plays and Auburn still only passed for 82 yards. It was just 2-12 of third downs. Auburn leaves this game and enters the bye week still with questions surrounding its quarterback situation and its quarterback rotation. It still isn’t healthy, especially on defense. Running back Jarquez Hunter hasn’t been the player Auburn has expected him to be throughout this season. Auburn was outgained 420-307 and 275-134 in the second half.

By the box score, it was miraculous Auburn was in this game at all.

It did find a way to rush for 219 yards against a defensive front better than the one it was dominated by in Texas last week. It wasn’t enough when the dam broke.

“It hurts,” Freeze said. “It hurts those kids and our coaches, and our fans I’m sure, too.”

Freeze and Kirby Smart safely shook hands in the middle of the field. The goalposts stood sturdy and tall.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]