Dawgs pound Tide in SEC Championship
Alabama gets worked in SEC Championship, but still makes College Football Playoff
By: Dave in Tuscaloosa
Plain and simple, Georgia dominated Alabama in Saturday’s SEC Championship game in Atlanta, avenging the Tide’s 24-21 regular season victory over the Bulldogs with a 28-7 rout of the Crimson Tide.
With the win, the Dawgs have now won back-to-back conference titles, and Kirby Smart improved his overall record against Alabama to 2-7. Not all of the news was awful for Tide fans this weekend, as the loss did not impact Bama’s ranking for the College Football Playoff. Alabama remains #9 and will have a chance to get revenge when they face #8 Oklahoma on Friday, December 19th. The Sooners upset the Tide a few weeks back, 23-21.
It was a thorough beatdown, as Georgia took advantage of a short field to score their four touchdowns. A blocked punt in the first quarter led to a Gunner Stockton to Roderick Robinson II one-yard pass to give the Dawgs a 7-0 lead. Ty Simpson, who struggled again on Saturday, threw an interception in the second quarter, and Stockton and company took advantage of the turnover, marching 57 yards in 14 plays. When Stockton hit Dillon Bell from five yards out, the Dawgs increased their lead to 14-0 with 8:43 remaining in the first half.
Had it not been for the stout Alabama defense, who held the Dawgs to a total of 297 yards, the game would have gotten out of hand before half, but the Bama stop troops held the Dawgs at bay for the remainder of the first half to keep the margin at 14. The Bama offense struggled all day and could only muster 209 total yards and had a stunning total of -3 yards on the ground (Bama’s two top running backs were injured and did not play on Saturday).
The Dawgs defense was tremendous, and they pressured Simpson all game. Simpson has not looked good for a month, and the pattern of missing open receivers continued Saturday. The second half started with a Bama three-and-out, and after Georgia star receiver Zachariah Branch returned the ensuing punt 24 yards to the Tide 40, the Dawgs marched down the field and took an insurmountable 21-0 lead on a Nate Frazier nine-yard touchdown run. Bama found a little life early in the fourth when they marched 91 yards and scored their only touchdown on a nifty Simpson to Germie Bernard catch and run for 23 yards to cut the deficit to 21-7 with 12:33 left in the contest.
The Bama D held and forced a Dawgs punt, yet due to punt returner Cole Adams self-recovered fumble, Alabama started their next drive at their own four yard line. Bama could not pick up a first down, and when the Tide failed on a 4th & 2 from their own 12, Georgia put the game away three plays later on a 13-yard Stockton to Branch touchdown pass that made the final score 28-7 and sent the Georgia faithful into a frenzy.
The box score for Bama was ugly…209 total yards, Simpson going 19 for 39 for 212 yards, a touchdown, and an interception, a total of 20 yards on the ground (which does not include yards lost on sacks), a weak 3/14 on third downs (Bama went 13/18 in their first meeting with the Dawgs), and Georgia won the time of possession battle handily, 36:52 to 23:08. Moreover, the Tide offense looked clearly outmatched as the coaching duo of Kalen DeBoer and Ryan Grubb had no answers for Glen Schumann’s stop troops. Hats off to Kirby Smart and the Dawgs, as they deserved the title.
Heading into the playoffs, Georgia looks like they are hitting on all cylinders, while Alabama has been stuck on the side of the road for a month, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. If the Tide wants to make a run in the playoffs, they need to get healthy (both backs and standout tight end Josh Cuevas are expected to be ready for the Oklahoma game), and they need to figure out how to get Simpson back on track. His 26 touchdowns to 5 interception ratio is solid, yet since the LSU game, the downfield passing game has been virtually non-existent. Most of Simpson’s completions in the last two games have been screens and passes underneath coverage. Grubb and company need to find a way to get Simpson time in the pocket to get comfortable, and if they can do that, Bama has a shot to topple the Sooners.
Bama needs to lick its wounds from the Dawg blowout and find the magic that propelled them to 10 wins in order to make any sort of a dent in the playoffs.
