ATHENS — Hugh Freeze doesn’t believe his Auburn team is that far off, but the scoreboard at Georgia and the Tigers’ record suggests otherwise.

The No. 5-ranked Bulldogs handed Auburn a 31-13 defeat at Sanford Stadium on Saturday, dropping the Tigers to 2-4 overall and 0-3 in SEC play.

Georgia out-gained Auburn, but only by a 381 yards to 337, and neither team turned the ball over.

“I keep saying we’re not that far off, because, you know, I think — they’re the No. 5 team in the country, and we should have been in this game,” said Freeze, who’s in his second season on The Plains. “We’re not playing winning football in critical times and moments. We, as coaches – it’s our job, it’s my job – to get that fixed.”

Freeze said before the game he felt Auburn could be 5-0 if not for ranking last among Power 4 teams in turnover margin — something Kirby Smart said he agreed with him.

Freeze said after the game his expectation for the Tigers is “to win every game,” even though Auburn has remaining SEC games with Missouri, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M and Alabama.

“I think we are capable; I think our team’s capable of doing that, (and) I’ll refuse to believe otherwise,” Freeze said. “We’ve shown too many signs that we can be, even as young as we are, that we can be a competitive football team.

“But you’ve got to make winning plays in critical situations … “

Indeed, Georgia converted on both of its fourth down attempts while Auburn was 0-for-2 and had a field goal blocked.

Freeze also continued to voice his displeasure with Auburn’s quarterback play, even though Payton Thorne was a respectable 16-of-27 passing for 200 yards with no interceptions and also rushed for 22 yards.

What Thorne didn’t do, however, was run a fourth-and-1 play at the Auburn 44 correctly on the first play of the fourth quarter with the Tigers’ trailing 21-10.

“Yeah, he absolutely didn’t go with what we had called,” Freeze said. “Payton’s a thinker. He knows football. He decided to try to run some type of zone read there.

“I think everybody was a little confused. But we definitely weren’t on the same page there.”

Freeze summed things up accurately enough.

“Obviously, a disappointing season, and today is another step not in the direction that we had hoped,” he said. “Georgia’s a good football team, and Kirby and them do a great job. Obviously, they’ve recruited a roster that’s really talented from top to bottom, and deep.

“I think they get really good quarterback play. He understands the game. They have a really good team.”