ATLANTA – The Georgia Bulldogs got their revenge on the Alabama Crimson Tide, rewriting the script from their earlier defeat and claiming the SEC Championship with a decisive 28–7 win. The victory also guarantees Georgia a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff.
Quarterback Gunner Stockton led the charge, tossing three touchdown passes and guiding an offense that set the tone early. Georgia stormed ahead 21–0 before Alabama finally answered in the fourth quarter, when Ty Simpson connected with Germie Bernard on a 23-yard strike.
Two pivotal moments swung the momentum squarely in Georgia’s favor during the first half. A blocked punt and an interception created by a Daylen Everette tip off a KJ Bolden deflection set the Bulldogs up with prime scoring opportunities inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium—valuable plays in a matchup with major CFP seeding stakes.
The Bulldogs struck first when running back Rod Robinson hauled in a 1-yard play-action pass from Stockton on third-and-goal. Minutes later, Stockton found Dillon Bell for a 5-yard touchdown, stretching the lead to 14–0 with just under nine minutes remaining before halftime.
Bell’s score capped a methodical 14-play, 57-yard drive that followed Everette’s interception, giving Georgia complete control heading into the break.
The Primary Complaint
In their first eleven matchups, Georgia only won one game against Alabama in the Kirby Smart era. Notably, Smart earned an extra reward for the victory today. According to the Athens Banner-Herald, the 49-year-old head coach earned another $200,000 for winning the SEC championship.
Meanwhile, the Alabama Crimson Tide, who came in 9th in the CFP rankings, now have to wait as the Committee unveils their final rankings at 12:00 PM Sunday afternoon. Alabama finished the day 3-of-17 on third down and were held to -3 rushing yards.
Ty Simpson completed 19-of-39 passes for 212 yards with one touchdown and one interception. But most of those yards came during the Tide’s desperation comeback attempt, which really had no chance.
“But we’re here to win an SEC Championship,” said Alabama Head Coach Kalen DeBoer. “We’re not here, if you lose by 1, or you lose by more, it’s still a loss. That’s what I was caring about. We’re here to win an SEC Championship. You can’t be worried about how much you lose by. That’s what it was about. We’re here to win. That’s how we play. Again, it was a 14-point game with 7.5 minutes to go against a really good team that knows us well and we know them well. I thought our defense did a heck of a job going against them. The one thing we didn’t really do is take the ball off them.”
Up next
Both teams await the CFP rankings and first-round pairings to be released on Sunday at 12 PM Eastern Time.
Stacy M. Brown is an NNPA Newswire Correspondent
- Stacy M. Brown
- Stacy M. Brown
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