No. 17 Alabama continued its dominance over Kirby Smart, snapping No. 5 Georgia’s 33-game home winning streak with a 24-21 win on Saturday.
Smart is now 1-6 as the Georgia head coach against Alabama. DeBoer moves to 2-0 over the Georgia Bulldogs. The Crimson Tide move to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the SEC.
Here are a few takeaways from the game.
- Fast Start
Alabama couldn’t have asked for a better start. The defense started the game with a three-and-out, and the offense followed with a methodical 14-play 74 74-yard touchdown drive. Another stop by the defense and the offense matched the first drive with another 14-play touchdown drive. This time, the Crimson Tide offense traveled 83 yards to reach the endzone. The Crimson Tide enjoyed a 24-14 lead going into halftime.
- Third Down Success
The Crimson Tide had an extreme amount of success third down. By staying ahead of the chains on first and second down, Alabama found itself with manageable third downs, which made for easy conversions. The Crimson Tide moved the chains on third down nine times out of 11 chances in the first half. In the second half, the success was not as frequent as Alabama went 3-of-8 on third down conversions. A third down conversion on a catch from Jam Miller with under two minutes to go sealed the deal, with Alabama going 12-of-19 on the game.
- Rushing Attack Still Missing
Jam Miller made his return to the Crimson Tide backfield, but he was unable to revive an abysmal running attack. Like every other opponent that has faced Georgia, Alabama failed to get anything going on the ground. The Crimson Tide were held to just 117 yards rushing at an average of 3.1 per carry. Miller led all rushers for Alabama with 46 yards.
- Defense Can’t Stop the Run
Georgia did what it does best: run the football. Alabama had no answers for the Georgia run game on Saturday. Georgia went well over its season average, rushing for 227 yards for an average of 6.9 yards per carry. The return of Tim Keenan helped slow down the run up the middle, but Georgia thrived on outside runs. Alabama failed to set the edge on multiple occasions, which resulted in long runs for the Bulldogs.
- Simpson Shows up on the Big Stage
In the biggest game of his career at Alabama, Ty Simpson remained cool, calm and collected. Alabama and Simpson entered a rowdy, hostile environment and performed. Simpson wasn’t perfect, but he put forth a solid start in his first SEC game as a starter. Through the air, Simpson went 24-of-38 passing for 276 yards and two touchdowns, remaining interception-free on the season. Simpson also tacked on a 2-yard touchdown run. In the most crucial moment of the game, Simpson rolled out to his right and hit Miller on a third down conversion to seal the game for the Crimson Tide.
Alabama will host a ranked Vanderbilt team next Saturday, October 4, at 2:30 p.m. The game will be televised on ABC or ESPN.
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