The SEC has locked in the details for Georgia’s next big road trip, and the Bulldogs will be under the lights in Tuscaloosa.
Georgia’s Oct. 10 matchup against Alabama is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff and will air on ABC.
The game figures to be Georgia’s first ranked opponent of the season, with Alabama sitting at No. 7 in the latest AP Poll. Georgia comes in at No. 2.
Alabama enters the matchup after rolling past South Carolina 49-18 last weekend. Quarterback Keelon Russell has been a major storyline for the Crimson Tide so far, piling up 11 touchdowns both on the ground and through the air.
These programs already know each other well from last season’s two meetings. Alabama handled Georgia 24-21 in Athens during the regular season, but Georgia answered back in the SEC championship game.
In that rematch, Georgia’s defense shut things down, holding Alabama to -3 rushing yards while the offense made the most of several short fields in a 28-7 victory.
That win was only the second time Kirby Smart has beaten Alabama as Georgia’s head coach. He is 2-7 against the Crimson Tide overall, and of course he spent the 2007 through 2015 seasons on the Alabama staff.
The Oct. 10 game will be the fourth straight season Georgia and Alabama have met. During Smart’s 11 seasons in Athens, the teams have faced off every year except three, and four of those matchups came in the SEC championship game.
Georgia has not won in Tuscaloosa since 2007, which came during Nick Saban’s first season at Alabama.
Before that trip, Georgia will host Vanderbilt this week in a 12:45 p.m. kickoff on the SEC Network. Alabama, meanwhile, is headed to Mississippi State, where the No. 16 Bulldogs are getting strong play from quarterback Kamario Taylor.
In Other News...
Georgia Has One Dangerous Problem Heading Into Vanderbilt
Georgia has spent this season looking every bit like a team that expects to keep winning, and the matchup with Vanderbilt fits the same script on paper. The Bulldogs are undefeated, favored again, and coming off a run of steady, no-drama performances that have kept them in the thick of the national conversation while the rest of the league keeps trying to catch up.
Still, there is a little extra edge to this one because Vanderbilts quarterback is freshman Jared Curtis, who was once committed to Georgia before ending up with the Commodores. The bigger concern for the Bulldogs, though, is less about the opponent than about themselves and whether they can stay locked in for four quarters, since the season has shown they can control games when they stay sharp and leave openings only when their focus slips. [Read more 🡒]
Kirby Smart Hinted At A Bigger Georgia Role Fans Will Notice
With Vanderbilt next on the schedule, Kirby Smart used his weekly availability to touch on the usual game-week checkpoints and a few broader themes around Georgias roster. He praised Clark Leas work with the Commodores, pointed to players such as Jared Curtis and Thomas Blackshear as part of the discussion, and walked through the kind of injury and practice updates that tend to shape how the Bulldogs prepare from one Saturday to the next.
Smart also spent time on the kind of player development questions Georgia fans tend to notice over the course of a season, offering thoughts on London Humphreys, JJ Hane, Dwight Phillips and Jordan Hall. Taken together, the remarks suggested a coach looking beyond the immediate matchup, with more attention on how individual roles are taking shape and where the Bulldogs may be leaning as SEC play keeps moving forward. [Read more 🡒]
Brock Bowers Is Already Giving Georgia Fans A Reason To Watch
Brock Bowers wasted no time reminding everyone why Georgia fans still track his every move on Sundays. Back from a knee injury, the former Bulldogs star was the focal point of the Las Vegas Raiders offense in a 35-27 win over the New Orleans Saints, piling up 10 catches for 116 yards and a touchdown in a performance that looked awfully familiar to anyone who watched him in Athens.
There was more Georgia flavor in the result, too, with Nakobe Dean leading the Raiders defense with a team-high 12 tackles and helping close the door with a game-sealing fumble recovery. At 3-0, Las Vegas is leaning on multiple former Bulldogs in all three phases, and for Georgia fans, that makes the Raiders an especially relevant watch even before the full story of this season takes shape. [Read more 🡒]