By the time Auburn’s secondary realized what was happening, it was too late.

Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett dropped back, quickly read the field, and then took off up the middle. Bennett was past midfield by the time Auburn’s defensive backs had a chance to turn their heads around. Bennett was gone, racing past them 64 yards to the house on the first play of the fourth quarter Saturday evening at Sanford Stadium.

It was the lowlight of a game in which Auburn’s defense was gashed on the ground against No. 2 Georgia. The Tigers gave up 292 yards and six rushing touchdowns against the Bulldogs, who averaged 7.5 yards per carry during the 127th installment of The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.

Read more Auburn football: Analysis: Auburn demolished by Georgia in series’ most-lopsided game since 2012

What Bryan Harsin said about Auburn’s blowout loss to Georgia

Rewinding Auburn’s 42-10 loss to No. 2 Georgia

“They started to run the ball, and that was a factor in the game,” Auburn coach Bryan Harsin said. “That’s what you don’t want to let happen. You want a game where you want control of the run and try to balance the offense out a little bit. When the score is getting to what it is, you know the team is going to run it, and you know they’re going to give you lots of different looks.”

Georgia’s six rushing touchdowns were the most allowed by Auburn in a game since 2012, when Johnny Manziel’s Texas A&M team scored that many during a 63-21 win against the Tigers during their disastrous 3-9 campaign. The Bulldogs’ 7.5 yards per carry were the most by an opponent against the Tigers since 2015, during the notorious Leonard Fournette game at LSU. The Bayou Bengals averaged 8.56 yards per carry (and ran for five scores) in a 45-21 thrashing at Death Valley.

Saturday’s effort against the run was similarly demoralizing, as Georgia used a balanced effort to pick apart Auburn on the ground and dominate the line of scrimmage. Freshman Brandon Robinson led the way with 98 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries. Daijun Edwards had 83 yards and three touchdowns on 12 attempts. Bennett had 64 yards and a touchdown on three carries, including his fourth-quarter touchdown. Kenny McIntosh added 38 yards and a touchdown.

“We played more physical at the line of scrimmage, and I thought we wore the other team down,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said.

Auburn’s defense managed to keep Georgia in check for much of the first half despite some early success on the ground by the Bulldogs. The game was scoreless after one quarter, and Georgia’s two second-quarter touchdowns — a pair of 1-yard runs by McIntosh and Edwards — came on short fields after a couple of special teams miscues by Auburn (a failed fake punt and then a long punt return by Ladd McConkey).

Outside of those two short scoring drives, Auburn’s defense allowed just 76 yards in the first half while forcing four punts and a missed field goal try by Georgia. The Tigers managed to keep things close despite the Bulldogs averaging 7.4 yards per carry in the first half and Auburn dealing with its own offensive inefficiencies.

Georgia added another rushing touchdown in the third quarter—a 2-yard run by Edward to cap an 11-play, 81-yard drive—but it wasn’t until the start of the fourth quarter that the dam truly broke for Auburn’s defense. That’s when Bennett took off for his 64-yard touchdown run right down the Tigers’ throats.

“That was big,” Harsin said. “That hurt. That big, long quarterback draw that he hit, that was a big, explosive play that turned into a touchdown. When you’re talking about yardage and explosive plays that become touchdowns, that’s really the one that hurt us the most on defense.”

According to linebacker Owen Pappoe, Auburn was in a “horrible” defensive look on that play, with no defenders in the box when Bennett dropped back. It’s why the Georgia quarterback saw nothing but grass in front of him once he took off.

“There was literally no one in the box at all,” Pappoe said. “I felt like we gave him that one. It was a bad call.”

Bennett’s long run, which was the longest play from scrimmage allowed by Auburn this season, pushed the score to 28-3 and opened the floodgates. Georgia only piled on from there, adding two more rushing touchdowns — Edwards’ third of the game and a 15-yarder from Robinson — to put the finishing touches on the most lopsided result in the storied rivalry since 2012. The Bulldogs rushed for 147 yards on 14 carries in the fourth quarter—and that’s including a pair of kneel-downs for minus-3 yards to close the game; Georgia had 150 yards on 11 fourth-quarter runs prior to the closing minute.

“That’s a good offense that you’re playing against,” Harsin said. “They’ve obviously shown they can be explosive; they’ve got a lot of really good players at skill positions…. So, you know, we did some good things, just not enough.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.