UGA-UA: Best offense beats best defense in Tide victory
By TIM GAYLE
Mac Jones’ first pass attempt was intercepted by Georgia standout Richard LeCounte.
Those who thought the battle between the Southeastern Conference’s top-rated defense (Georgia) and the top-rated offense (Alabama) would favor the defensive squad might have thought the Bulldogs set the tone with the game’s first play, but very few went in their favor the remainder of the night as the second-ranked Crimson Tide rolled to a 41-24 win over third-ranked Georgia at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday night.
“I kind of knew it was going to be sort of a 15-round fight, probably wouldn’t be winning the fight until a later round and you know we got behind early in the game and the players kept playing the game and kept fighting,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “I think it was a great win against a very, very good team.”
Saban, who went home on Wednesday after a positive test for coronavirus, returned on Saturday after three consecutive days of negative tests, restoring some stability in a program that was rocked with a defensive collapse last week in Oxford and the loss of their coach in the middle of the week.
The defensive players responded to the first challenge by posting a shutout of the Georgia offense in the second half. The offense responded to the temporary loss of their head coach by being unfazed in piling up 564 total yards on what was the nation’s fifth-rated scoring defense.
“I have got a lot of gratitude myself for the way they sort of handled all the disruption of the week,” Saban said. “They really stayed focused. I think they responded with a lot of maturity, not to let this bother them. The norm now is disruption, it’s the norm. We knew that coming into the season and I am really pleased with the way the players managed the disruption of this week.”
Jones completed 24 of 32 passes for 417 yards and four touchdowns, tying Tua Tagovailoa for the most (three) 400-yard performances in school history. He broke open the game in the third quarter with a 90-yard touchdown pass to Jaylen Waddle, making the redshirt junior the first person in program history to have four passes of 85 yards or more.
“I’m just glad we won the game,” Jones said. “If we keep winning, everyone will get stats, whatever you guys like. I enjoy winning. I think the defense needs more credit tonight, going out there and pitching a shutout in the second half. They gave us the energy we needed because obviously we didn’t execute very well in the first half.
Georgia forced punts on three consecutive Alabama possessions to take a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter, but Alabama was just getting warmed up. The Tide’s final eight possessions over the last three quarters of the game resulted in points six times, a punt once and closed out with an impressive 10-play drive that consumed the final 6:05 in the game.
“Give Alabama a lot of credit,” Smart said. “They have great skill players and I thought we contained them early. The second half we couldn’t do it. Give their coaches credit. They outcoached us. We played a really great football team, and we had some costly turnovers.
The Bulldogs, meanwhile, must be getting tired of seeing DeVonta Smith. The receiver who broke their heart with the game-winning catch in overtime of the championship game as a freshman hauled in 11 receptions for 167 yards and a pair of touchdowns on Saturday night.
“I just trust ‘Smitty’ a lot,” Jones said. “When a guy looks at you, in your eyes, and says throw the ball to me, I don’t care if I’m triple covered, throw it to me, it’s hard to turn that down. He’s a Jordan-level competitor so if you can get him the ball, then he’ll make the play.”
Smith now has 156 career receptions for 2,592 yards and 27 touchdowns, averaging 16.6 yards per game. In the school record books, he is three receptions behind Jerry Jeudy for fifth, 61 yards behind Julio Jones for fifth, second in touchdowns behind Amari Cooper’s 31 and third in yards per catch behind Ozzie Newsome (20.3) and Jeudy (17.2).
Waddle, meanwhile, finished with a career-high 161 yards on six receptions on Saturday.
“You have to have a really, really good secondary, you have to have really good guys to match up,” Saban said. “That’s been an advantage for us. It was a huge advantage for us last year, and it’s an advantage for us this year.”
LeCounte offered no argument to Saban’s assessment.
“We have to be better in the secondary,” he said. “We were able to make some plays, but they made more plays than us. They have a great wide receiver group, great quarterback, great team. The team who played better tonight won.”
The loss dropped Georgia into a three-way tie for second place in the conference at 3-1 with Kentucky and Texas A&M, but the Bulldogs remain atop the SEC East Division in their quest to return to the SEC Championship Game on Dec. 19.
“Our destiny is still controlled by us, which is how you want it,” Bulldog quarterback Stetson Bennett said. “If we win out, we will probably see those guys and we will be in the SEC Championship, so everything we want is still ahead of us.”
Alabama is now the conference’s only unbeaten team at 4-0, but waiting for the Crimson Tide’s visit to Neyland Stadium next week is arch rival Tennessee.
“This is a great win for our team but humility always keeps you hungry,” Saban said. “It’s one game. We’re going to have to continue to improve in a lot of areas and we are going to have to continue to work hard to try and play an SEC game every week. It’s tough and the players have to respond every week because I think everyone we play in this league can beat you if you don’t bring your ‘A’ game.”