TAMPA, Fla. - Alabama and Georgia may not fit the SEC’s classic rivalry mold, but the series has become one of the league’s defining matchups anyway.
That was the feeling around SEC Media Days, where Alabama receiver Ryan Coleman-Williams said the Tide and Bulldogs have turned their own heavyweight clash into something bigger than a normal conference game.
“We’ve made it a rivalry,” Coleman-Williams said when asked by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about the series’ significance. “It doesn’t have the same feeling as the Third Saturday in October (Alabama-Tennessee rivalry), or the Iron Bowl (Alabama-Auburn), but it’s definitely a rivalry.”
Georgia has its own traditional enemies - Florida, Auburn, Georgia Tech and Tennessee among them - but the Bulldogs’ recent run has made Alabama a different kind of measuring stick. Georgia has won back-to-back SEC titles and reached eight of the last nine league championship games, and its biggest statement against the Tide came in the CFP Championship Game after the 2021 season, a 33-18 win.
SEC Network host Paul Finebaum said Alabama fans still see the matchup through a very different lens.
“It’s not really a rivalry, but I can tell you the view from the die-hard Alabama fans,” Finebaum said. “They think Alabama owns Georgia.
I hear it from every single one of them. Alabama fans think Georgia is an automatic win.”
Georgia, though, has the current edge after rolling past Alabama 28-7 in last season’s SEC Championship Game.
The next chapter arrives Oct. 10, when Georgia heads to Tuscaloosa. That’s a place the Bulldogs haven’t won since 2007, when Matthew Stafford led a Mark Richt-coached team to a 26-23 overtime victory.
From Alabama’s side, cornerback Zabien Brown described the games as tight, detail-driven battles.
“Games with Georgia, they come down to a handful of plays, two to five plays, that really change the whole game,” Brown said on Wednesday.
“Whether it’s a first down or completed pass, those games are chess matches, (so) I think it’s definitely a rivalry in terms of how often we play and how much we do know each other. We know what they’re going to do, and they know what we’re going to do, and it comes down to execution.”
This year’s meeting is expected to carry the same kind of weight, with both teams projected to be undefeated and ranked near the top when they meet for the 10th time in the last 10 seasons. Only four of those games have been scheduled regular-season matchups; the other six came in the postseason with a championship at stake.
“I just think when you look at the games over the past years, they’ve all been really, really big games, two talented teams, heavy matchups,” Tide safety Bray Hubbard said. “You face them in the regular season, you face them in the postseason.
“The best teams are going to end up playing each other, that’s just part of it.”
The series has also been a tough one for Kirby Smart at a few specific road venues. Bryant-Denny Stadium is one of only three SEC stadiums where Smart has not won with Georgia, along with LSU’s Tiger Stadium, where he is 0-1, and Ole Miss’ Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, where he is 0-2. Georgia has not played at Oklahoma, which joined the SEC in 2024.
Georgia vs. Alabama
(Kirby Smart era, 2016-current)
2025: UGA 28, Alabama 7 (Atlanta)
2025: Alabama 24, Georgia 21 (Athens)
2024: Alabama 41, Georgia 34 (Tuscaloosa)
2023: Alabama 27, Georgia 24 (Atlanta)
2022: Georgia 33, Alabama 18 (Indianapolis)
2021: Alabama 41, Georgia 24 (Atlanta)
2020: Alabama 41, Georgia 24 (Tuscaloosa)
2018: Alabama 35, Georgia 28 (Atlanta)
2018: Alabama 26, Georgia 23, OT (Atlanta)
In Other News...
Jon Sumrall Just Gave Georgia Fans A Familiar Reason To Laugh
Floridas new coach is already trying to stir the pot in a rivalry that has long tilted hard in Georgias favor. Jon Sumrall made it clear where his attention is headed, putting Georgia at the center of his early message and suggesting the Gators need to treat the matchup with more urgency if they want the series to feel competitive again.
For Georgia fans, it is the kind of declaration that usually lands with a smile, because talk has not changed the balance of this rivalry in years. Sumrall also hinted that past Florida coaches may not have approached Georgia with enough seriousness, but the Bulldogs have heard versions of this before and will be waiting for the response on the field before treating any of it as more than offseason noise. [Read more 🡒]
Aaron Murray Sees One Clear Hurdle For Gunner Stockton
Gunner Stocktons first season as Georgias full-time starter gave the Bulldogs plenty to build on, from an 11-1 regular season to an SEC championship run. Even with the playoff ending short of the finish Georgia wanted, the bigger picture around Stockton is still about growth, and former Bulldogs quarterback Aaron Murray sees one area that could help the next step come quickly.
Murray pointed to Stocktons work throwing between the hashes, especially when the ball is going to tight ends, as the clear hurdle to clear. Georgia has the kind of tight end room that can help make that happen, and if Stockton sharpens that part of his game, it could go a long way toward pushing the Bulldogs back into national title contention while also strengthening his own profile moving forward. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Fans May Be Blaming Gunner Stockton For The Wrong Problem
Gunner Stocktons deep-ball numbers from Georgias 2025 season have become an easy target for fans looking for a culprit, but the picture is a little messier than a simple quarterback verdict. On throws traveling more than 20 yards in the air, Stockton finished 17-for-53, a completion rate that looks rough on the surface and even rougher when stacked against the sports best passers.
Georgias receivers did him few favors. The Bulldogs had six drops on those deep throws, and the issues went beyond a few missed catches, with route-running and pass protection also part of the conversation. Mike Bobos play-calling will always draw scrutiny in Athens, but the deeper question for 2026 is whether a more experienced receiver group and cleaner execution can turn Stocktons downfield work into a real strength. [Read more 🡒]