Stanton Truitt

Auburn's Stanton Truitt carries the ball against Georgia (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)

With Kamryn Pettway sidelined, Auburn's running game suffered Saturday night in Athens.

A banged-up Kerryon Johnson managed to earn 99 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries, but Gus Malzahn's backfield got thinner when receiver-turned running back Stanton Truitt and H-back Chandler Cox both suffered injuries in the 13-7 loss to the Bulldogs. Auburn finished with 127 yards on the ground, the fewest since posting 87 in the season-opening loss to Clemson.

"Stanton Truitt got hurt the first time we gave it to him," Malzahn said. "It was an ankle, and then he was maybe 50 percent. We're pretty beat up right there."

Truitt finished with two carries for five yards and one reception for six yards. Cox, who suffered an undisclosed leg injury, had one carry for six yards.

Both players are in the same wait-and-see boat, according to offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee, but the hope is that neither injury is serious.

"(Truitt's ankle) just stiffened up as the game went on," Lashlee said. "He's OK today. It's not a long-term, critical thing, we don't think. We're optimistic. But we're less than 24 hours out right now, so we're probably have to give us a day for swelling to go down and see exactly where his status is."

"Chandler's the same thing. Again, I don't think anybody is critical. We've got a chance. We're optimistic with all those guys. It's just going to take 24, 48 hours to just see how swelling goes, how guys kind of -- everybody heals differently. So we're optimistic, but probably won't know more till Tuesday or Wednesday when we can get out on the field and move around and see really what their status is."

Cox was interviewed by the media after the game in Athens and said that while not many players are 100 percent at this time in the season, everyone wants to play.

"We want to go out there and execute and have an injury not affect us unless it's serious," Cox said. "Kind of like tonight, I got a little banged up but I was trying to get back on the field tonight with my teammates to help this team."

Auburn (7-3, 5-2 SEC) hosts Alabama A&M Saturday.