Kalen DeBoer’s first SEC game as Alabama football’s head coach is in the books. The Crimson Tide beat to Georgia 41-34, coming out on top after a thrilling ending, despite having led 30-7 at the half.
What was almost a thoroughly embarrassing UGA comeback, ended when the defense made one final stop, after Ryan Williams gave Alabama the lead back on a long touchdown.
The Crimson Tide heads to Vanderbilt next, while the Bulldogs face Auburn in Athens. Before that, here are three takeaways from Saturday’s game.
Hot start
As soon as the ball was kicked, Alabama came out firing. The Crimson Tide dominated all facets in the early going on Saturday.
The Tide started with the ball and cruised down the field. Jalen Milroe scored on a 7-yard run to open the scoring.
Alabama’s defense did its job, forcing a punt. Another touchdown quickly ensued, that one a perfect throw from Milroe to Jam Miller out of the backfield, on a play offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan drew up perfectly.
By the time the Bulldogs finally got around to answering, Alabama was up 28-0. Not insurmountable, obviously, but certainly making things more difficult on UGA.
Milroe didn’t even throw his first incompletion until 3:55 in the second quarter, a play that took video review to make certain Germie Bernard hadn’t reeled it in.
Swarm D
After the Crimson Tide’s far-too-close performance against South Florida in Week 2, defensive coordinator Kane Wommack issued an ultimatum. Zero takeaways were unacceptable.
Against Wisconsin, Alabama fixed the problem. For the Georgia game, the defense impressed even more.
Wommack’s Crimson Tide defense got after Carson Beck, putting the UGA QB, one of the preseason frontrunners for the Heisman Trophy, on the ground and intercepting him multiple times.
It wasn’t perfect, obviously. Georgia took a late lead on the Tide, but UA’s offense responded, and freshman DB Zabien Brown intercepted Beck late to end the game.
Things got a bit hairy toward the end, with the Crimson Tide offense also not putting up the numbers it did to begin the game. However, Wommack and company got the job done, against an offense that featured plenty of star power, clearly its toughest test of the season.
Still on top
Maybe the apocalypse was overblown. When Nick Saban retired, college football was Kirby Smart’s to rule, the prevailing narrative went for years.
Alabama’s win doesn’t mean the dynasty isn’t dead. In fact, with the new 12-team playoff, it means less than at any previous point in college football history.
But what DeBoer and company showed Saturday was the ability to hang with anyone. The No. 1 (or No. 2 depending on your preferred poll) team in the nation came to Bryant-Denny Stadium and couldn’t hang.
The Crimson Tide passed a test. UA will surely rise when the AP media and coaches top 25 polls update on Sunday, moving a little bit closer to the top of the college football world.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs will need to do some soul searching. After the loss, predated by a lackluster performance at Kentucky, perhaps the Alabama dynasty isn’t the one in imminent jeopardy.
