TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — A couple of powerful lessons were learned here at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday. One, Alabama is still a reckoning force in the SEC under first-year coach Kalen DeBoer. Two, games are 60 minutes long, and the second 30 is just as important as the first.
The Georgia Bulldogs won that second 30 minutes and almost executed the biggest comeback in a top-five matchup in the history of college football. The trouble was, when Georgia scored a go-ahead touchdown with 2:31 to play, it took Alabama all of 13 seconds to take back the lead.
Carson Beck’s 67-yard touchdown pass to Dillon Bell was followed on the next play by a 75-yard scoring play on a throw from Jalen Milroe to Ryan Williams. Followed by a two-point conversion, that left the Bulldogs with 2:18 to make up a 41-34 deficit.
And they nearly did.
The Bulldogs made it all the way to the Alabama 20 with 49 seconds and two timeouts remaining. But Beck’s first-down pass for Colbie Young in the end zone was intercepted by Crimson Tide defensive back Zabien Brown. The resulting touchback allowed Alabama to escape disaster and robbed Georgia of winning one of the great games ever played between these two powerhouse programs.
“One helluva game, great atmosphere,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “Obviously we weren’t prepared in the first half, especially defensively. Gave them short fields and created a lot of tough times. But I’m extremely proud of our team for coming back the way they did.”
Said DeBoer: “Heck of a game. I lost my voice out there. I’m proud of the way we played. It took four quarters. They made a run there in the fourth quarter, and I’m proud of the guys for continuing to fight and learn.”
Undefeated in 42 consecutive regular-season games, the No. 2-ranked Bulldogs (3-1, 1-1 SEC) instead lost trying to reach their 43rd. Georgia now is 49-3 in its past 52 games. All three losses were to Alabama.
The No. 4-ranked Crimson Tide (4-0, 1-0) records their first SEC win under DeBoer, in his first season as Nick Saban’s successor. Alabama has won nine of the past 10 games against the Bulldogs. The game was played before a sellout crowd of 101,821 at Bryant-Denny Stadium and a captive, prime-time audience tuning in on ABC to see the matchup of the year.
Milroe finished with 491 total yards and 374 on 27-of-33 passing and four touchdowns, two passing and two running. Williams, Alabama’s fabulous 17-year-old freshman, caught six passes for 177 yards. Included in that was the 75-yard winning play in which he beat Julian Humphrey for a contested deep ball down the right sideline and then outmaneuvered both Humphrey and safety KJ Bolden for the final 25 yards needed to score.
Beck was 27-of-50 passing for 439 and three scores. But his final play of the night ended with his third interception. Arian Smith led the Bulldogs with 132 yards receiving and a score, and Bell had 100 on five receptions. Alabama outgained Georgia 547 to 519.
“What do you think my emotions are,” said Beck, who falls to 17-2 as Georgia’s starting quarterback. “Obviously I’m upset. I’m not big on moral victories. I believe in winning and losing, and we lost. But we fought hard, and that’s something to be proud of.”
Milroe was nearly perfect in the first half as the Crimson Tide raced to a 28-0 lead in the first 17 minutes of play and headed into the halftime locker room ahead 30-7. A redshirt junior from Katy, Texas, Milroe toyed with the Bulldogs’ vaunted defense, accounting for nearly all 355 of Bama’s yards over the first two quarters of play on 199 yards passing and 106 rushing.
Milroe completed his first 11 passes of the game and his 12th was ruled incomplete only after video review proved the low ball to wide receiver Germie Berrnard had slipped through his arms and hit the ground. Milroe jogged to the locker room having completed 18 of 21 passes with a touchdown. He finished with 374 yards on 27-of-33 passing.
Alabama’s dominating first-half performance came against a Georgia defense that had not allowed a touchdown all season. Bama dispensed with that anomaly less than five minutes into the game. They drove 70 yards in eight plays on the game’s opening drive and scored on Milroe’s untouched run around left end.
And so the first half went. Alabama scored TDs on its second, third and fourth possessions and never punted during the opening 30. The Crimson Tide turned the ball over on downs once and literally turned it over with an interception another time. The end result of the latter, however, was a safety when Beck was flagged for intentional grounding in his own end zone.
The second half was a totally different story. Bell said Smart assured the Bulldogs it would be if they refused to give in.
“Coach said, ‘hey, man, the game ain’t over,’” Bell said. “He said, ‘It’s only halftime. You can make this comeback. We get the ball first, Let’s go score.’ And that’s what we did.”
Trailing by 23 points, Georgia’s strategy clearly was to go for it on every offensive play in the second half. That worked beautifully as the Bulldogs were a perfect 5-for-5 on fourth-down conversions in the game. They also attempted two-point conversions after all but their next to last touchdown. They converted one but failed on two others, including after Bell’s stunning touchdown that gave Georgia a 34-33 lead with 2:31 to go.
Turned out none of that mattered. After the ensuing touchback on Alabama’s kickoff return, Milroe simply received another shotgun snap and ripped a long pass down the right sideline. Humphrey actually had good coverage on Williams next to the boundary and Bolden was closing hard from the middle of the field. The unfortunate effect for the Bulldogs was Bolden’s momentum trying to bring down Williams actually took out Humphrey in the process. Williams was able to keep his balance while both defenders fell off of him and glided into the end zone for the 75-yard score.
With the loss, Georgia’s streak of consecutive regular-season wins was snapped at 42 games. Smart, who has dominated virtually every other opponent during his nine-year tenure, falls to 1-6 against Alabama, where he coached for nine years under Saban.
Adding insult to injury, this loss didn’t come against Smart’s mentor. The hope for the Bulldogs was that Saban’s retirement meant an end to Alabama’s domination. The Crimson Tide was 5-1 against Smart since he became Georgia’s coach. Instead, he’s now 0-1 to DeBoer and 1-6 against the Tide, for whom he worked for nine years.
“We can’t turn the ball over and win games,” Smart said. “It’s as simple as that.”
