ATHENS - Georgia and Alabama spent Saturday taking care of business, and now the SEC gets the matchup it has been waiting on.
Both teams are unbeaten and headed into next Saturday’s showdown in Tuscaloosa, a game that could shape the early order of the conference. Georgia is No. 2, Alabama No. 7, and the two programs have combined to win six of the past six SEC championship game trophies and 11 of the last 12.
The meeting in Bryant-Denny Stadium is set for 7:30 p.m. and will be the 10th time the Bulldogs and Tide have played in the past 10 years. Six of those games came in the postseason, including Georgia’s 33-18 College Football Playoff title-game win after the 2021 season and its 28-7 victory in last season’s SEC championship game.
“These are the games you look forward to,” Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton said after the Bulldogs beat Vanderbilt 38-14. “You know they always have a great home environment , so you know you’re always looking forward to it.”
Georgia has not won in Tuscaloosa since 2007, when Matthew Stafford led a 26-23 overtime victory over Nick Saban’s first Alabama team.
The Bulldogs and Tide arrived at this point in different ways, but both handled tricky Saturday roadblocks. Alabama opened the day with a 56-23 win over previously unbeaten and No. 16 Mississippi State in Starkville, while Georgia pulled away from an energized Vanderbilt team in Athens.
Stockton threw for a season-high 295 yards and three touchdowns against the Commodores as Georgia improved to 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the SEC. Alabama is also 5-0 and 3-0.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart, who is 2-7 against Alabama, said the Bulldogs are not changing their routine.
“It’s the next week in the SEC guys, guess what? The week after that one, there’s another week, they’re all big,” Smart said.
“I’m enjoying this victory, and then we’ll turn the page tomorrow, and come Sunday we’re going to turn the page on that one,” Smart said.
“That’s what we do, and we’re really consistent in our approach to things, and we’ll let y’all deal with the highs and lows.”
The history between the programs has been loaded with swings. Alabama beat Smart, then its former defensive coordinator, 26-23 in overtime in the CFP championship game following the 2017 season. Last season, the Tide snapped Georgia’s school-record 33-game home winning streak with a 24-21 victory before the Bulldogs answered with the SEC title-game win.
Georgia linebacker Chris Cole said the Bulldogs are familiar with the challenge ahead.
“We played Alabama in the SEC championship game, we had a lot of film on them,” Cole said. “Georgia and Alabama, it’s always a great game because it’s two good teams competing.
“We’re gonna watch game film and get ready for it.”
Alabama, meanwhile, gave Mississippi State little room to breathe. Quarterback Keelon Russell completed 16 of 22 passes for 285 yards and three touchdowns, while also running five times for 16 yards and a 17-yard touchdown that pushed the Tide ahead 21-7 seven seconds into the second quarter.
The Tide forced four turnovers and piled up 483 yards of offense. Alabama also dominated the ground game, out-rushing Mississippi State 179-18 as the Bulldogs were forced into catch-up mode after falling behind early.
“I think we continue to get better, these guys are in a mindset, which is what you want every day at practice,” DeBoer said, citing the team will reset for the Bulldogs, per AL.com. “Nothing we did here today carried over into next week.
“Love that we can get on a bus, get here, put on the pads, go play ball. These guys love it.
They play for each other. As long as that continues to happen inside our program, the sky’s the limit.”
In Other News...
Kirby Smart Seemed To Send A Message In Georgias Vanderbilt Win
Jared Curtis did not suit up in Vanderbilts recent meeting with Georgia after the quarterback, who had flipped his commitment from the Bulldogs to the Commodores last year, was injured. Georgia handled the game the way a team trying to stay in the thick of the national title race needed to, while Vanderbilt came away with its season outlook looking far less secure than the one in Athens.
Afterward, Curtis made his way toward Kirby Smart, setting up a moment that drew attention for what happened as much as what did not. Smarts body language suggested he was not eager to linger, and the interaction felt like the sort of understated sideline scene that can say plenty without anyone having to say much at all. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Left Vanderbilt With Two Concerns Alabama Will Test
Georgia left Nashville with a win and a cleaner record, but not a clean bill of health on the details that usually travel with them into bigger games. The Bulldogs beat Vanderbilt 38-14 to move to 5-0, and Carson Beck turned in another efficient day by completing 25 of 32 passes for 295 yards and three touchdowns. Even so, the outing had the kind of uneven stretches Georgia cannot ignore when the schedule sharpens, especially with the ground game not finding much rhythm.
The defense also had its lapses, most notably on third downs, and Alabama is the sort of opponent that tends to expose those cracks quickly. Georgia did settle in after halftime and looked more like itself down the stretch, but next weekend brings a far sterner test of whether those second-half corrections can carry over. For a team that has mostly handled business through September, the trip to face Alabama now feels less like a checkpoint and more like a revealing exam. [Read more 🡒]
Kirby Smart Is Already Pressing Georgia On One Concern Before Alabama
Vanderbilt kept things interesting for a half before Georgia pulled away for a 38-14 win, scoring the final 17 points to close it out. Clark Lea had reasons to point to some progress on the Commodores side, especially in protection and the run game, while Kirby Smart came away talking about the kind of things he likes to see from his own team this time of year: conditioning, execution and the steadier finish that can matter when the schedule tightens.
Smarts focus now turns quickly to Alabama, and it sounds like he is already sharpening one concern before that matchup arrives. Even after a comfortable win, Georgia is still looking to clean up areas that can become costly against a better opponent, and Smart did not hide that there is more work to do before the next test. [Read more 🡒]