ATHENS — Alabama and Georgia haven’t even looked at each other yet. At least that was the claim Wednesday of the two coaches who will lead their teams into a top-four clash in Tuscaloosa on Sept. 28.
On the practice fields at their campuses this week, both the No. 2 Bulldogs (3-0, 1-0 SEC) and fourth-ranked Crimson Tide (3-0, 0-0) say they have been focused on team and player improvement. But one can be assured that assistant coaches and support staff have been in an extended deep-dive examination of the opposition behind the scenes.
Though there will remain eight games for both teams after this rare regular-season engagement between them at Bryant-Denny Stadium (7:30 p.m., ABC), the outcome doubtlessly will follow them for the rest of the season. Conveniently, the SEC carved out a bye for both teams this weekend. So, while we wait, Georgia and Alabama are in the throes of preparation.
“We’ve been kind of trying to work on personal-improvement plans for each player and doing some quality control with special teams, offense, defense and then honing in on some recruiting with this time we have,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said Wednesday during the SEC coaches’ teleconference call.
Said Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer: “The staff is into the game-planning and the breakdowns. Our players have been doing some workouts. We’ll get into (Georgia) a little bit and what we’re going to see starting (Thursday) and Friday. We’ll give our guys Saturday away from the facility and get back into it again on Sunday.”
Georgia will be off Friday and Saturday as the coaches fan out to recruit and spend a rare weekend at home watching football themselves.
Saturday is the first of two open dates for both teams. The Bulldogs also will be off Oct. 26, the Saturday before meeting Florida in Jacksonville. Alabama is off again the weekend before facing LSU in Baton Rouge on Nov. 9.
The 2024 season is unusual as the calendar allows for 14 regular-season weeks before conference championship Saturday instead of the usual 13. The last time that happened was 2019, and Georgia had a bye before both the Tennessee and Florida games. Before that, it happened in 2013 and 2014.
That means a rare open weekend early in the season as opposed to an open date mid- to late-season in a typical year.
“I don’t know if I’d call it weird, but it’s different,” Smart said. “I do think the management of it is critical. Are all bye weeks the same? Are all bye weeks created equal? We had to go back and look to the last time we had two in one season and how we used them. Bye weeks serve different purposes. Ours fall on two different, distinct times. So, we will treat them very differently in terms of how we utilize it.”
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Generally, Smart has made good use of the extra time. The Bulldogs have won their past 21 games in which they’ve had more than one week to prepare for an opponent.
A surface-level glance at these teams hints that a similar matchup awaits as the past five Alabama-Georgia games since Smart has been the Bulldogs’ coach. The Crimson Tide would appear to field the superior offensive team, while statistics indicate UGA has the better defense.
Within the SEC, the Bulldogs rank in the top three of the majority of defensive categories with the exception of rushing yards allowed (they are 10th at 110.7 yards per game). Georgia leads the league in pass defense (91.33) and is third in total defense (184) and points allowed (6.0). Quite notably, UGA hasn’t allowed a touchdown in three games.
Alabama ranks third in the league in scoring (49.0) and is fifth in rushing (238 yards per game) and rushing TDs (13). Led by quarterback Jalen Milroe, the Tide is not throwing the ball around quite as much as the recent past. Their 228.7 passing yards per game ranks 11th in the SEC, one spot behind Carson Beck and Georgia (256.7).
The talk of the Tide this year is their 17-year-old freshman receiver Ryan Williams. He has 285 yards and four TDs in three games, which puts him well ahead of the pace of some of Alabama’s greatest wideouts through three games. That includes Julio Jones (107 yards, two TDs), Jerry Jeudy (107 and 1), Calvin Ridley (87 and 0), Amari Cooper (73 and 1) and DeVonta Smith (24 and 0).
“An extremely talented kid, a kid we recruited and saw several times,” Smart said. “A delightful personality who’s fun to be around.”
Alabama comes into the game following wins over Western Kentucky and South Florida in Tuscaloosa and Saturday’s impressive 42-10 road win over Wisconsin. Georgia defeated then-No. 14 Clemson 34-3 in Atlanta, followed by a 48-3 win over Tennessee Tech and last week’s one-point escape at Kentucky (13-12).
Now in his ninth season, Smart has guided the Bulldogs through one of the greatest runs in school history. In addition to winning the 2021 and 2022 national championships, Georgia is 49-2 in its past 51 games and extended its regular-season win streak 42 games with Saturday’s road win over Kentucky.
However, the one team that has had Smart’s number is Alabama. After coaching there for nine seasons, Smart is 1-5 against Tide, with all the losses coming against his former boss Nick Saban.
Only one of those defeats came in the regular season, 41-24 in Tuscaloosa during the SEC-only, 10-game season of 2020. The other four losses were in SEC or College Football Playoff Championship games. Georgia defeated Alabama 33-18 to win the 2021 CFP championship in Indianapolis.
Of all of this, DeBoer is well aware. While he and Smart do not have any shared personal history, DeBoer said he has heard plenty about the Georgia coach’s history and influence at Alabama and the rivalry that has intensified between the two programs over the past six years.
“Naturally, you learn more and more about that as you’re here longer,” DeBoer said Wednesday. “Now that it’s the bye week leading up to the Georgia game, you understand everything that surrounds the game. I think the main thing is this is for us our first conference game, and it’s against an opponent that’s No. 1 or maybe No. 2, depending on where you look. But they’re a top-rated team you know that brings it each and every Saturday. They’re going to be extremely well-coached, and we know it’s going to be a great test for us. It’s really about the game.”
Smart and DeBoer are not complete strangers. They’ve met and spent extensive time together at SEC football coaches’ meetings and other league events.
“I’ve seen from afar what he’s done, not just at Georgia but throughout his career. That’s so impressive,” DeBoer said. “You can see he’s one of those guys who does everything he can to help make the game better. He’s one of those coaches who can be out front and fight for the things that can improve our game of football, the college game especially. You know, so, I’ve just been impressed with that at meetings and things. He’s been around longer and is more familiar with our league.”
This week feels a bit like the calm before the storm. Both teams hope some key players get healthy. Georgia lost starting right guard Tate Ratledge to an ankle injury against Kentucky. The senior and preseason All-American already underwent tightrope surgery and hope to make it back after the second bye week of the season. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs desperately need defensive linemen Mykel Williams (ankle), Warren Brinson (leg) and Jordan Hall (leg) to find their ways back to the field.
But Georgia will worry about all that next week. Smart said he’s looking forward to spending some time Saturday watching college football on television. But he probably won’t enjoy it in the same way a typical fan might.
“If our opponents are on, I’ll watch them,” Smart said. “I’m not trying to take notes and all that. I’ll get a coaches’ copy and game footage for that. If anything, I’m watching game management, how people are going about things, what other teams are doing. Just enjoying the ability to sit back and watch games.”
