Skip to content

Ad Disclosure

Ryan Williams in Alabama's win over Georgia.
College Football

3 takeaways from Alabama’s incredible escape against Georgia

Derek Peterson

By Derek Peterson

Published:

presented by toyota

Game of the year?

Game of the year.

No. 4 Alabama took a 28-0 lead on Georgia so fast on Saturday night you would have thought your television had glitched. Sportswriters all over the country were frantically looking up the last time Georgia had faced such a daunting deficit at the half (2016). Alabama was getting crowned.

And then Georgia fought all the way back. Whether the Tide let their foot off the gas or the second-ranked Bulldogs figured a few things out is beside the point. The class of the SEC absolutely delivered. Georgia scored touchdowns on 4 of its final 6 possessions in the game, clawing all the way back to briefly take a lead with less than 3 minutes remaining.

Carson Beck hit Dillon Bell for a 67-yard score that pushed the Bulldogs into the lead for the first time all night. Jalen Milroe and Alabama responded with a one-play, 75-yard shot to Ryan Williams to surge back out ahead. And then the oft-questioned Alabama secondary sealed the deal with an interception in the endzone.

Alabama survived, walking off the field with a 41-34 victory to move to 4-0 on the season and hand Georgia its first regular-season defeat since Nov. 7, 2020.

Here are 3 takeaways from Alabama’s side of the win. (Georgia takeaways can be found here.)

Alabama’s defense gives us all whiplash

Alabama fans are probably tired of hearing about it given the start to the season the Tide have had, but concerns about the secondary were legitimate heading into the year. The Crimson Tide needed to replace NFL-bound corners and a future NFL safety. The room thinned out with the coaching change. Coach Kalen DeBoer brought Kane Wommack in from South Alabama and they went about rebuilding things.

It was a young group, long on potential but short on experience. Keon Sabb was a huge get, coming over from Michigan. The corners, though. Those guys were going to be a work in progress.

Through 4 games, it’s fair to say Alabama’s secondary is a strength. We thought that was the case after 3 games, but the Tide had faced a South Florida who couldn’t threaten them downfield and then a backup Wisconsin quarterback. If there were issues, Carson Beck was going to expose them.

Instead, Alabama exposed Beck a bit in the first half. The Georgia quarterback was picked off twice. He was almost picked off a few more times. Alabama got to him in the endzone and forced an intentional grounding penalty that resulted in a safety. Beck missed throws you’d expect a presumptive first-round NFL pick to hit. He played poorly for 3 quarters, but Alabama’s secondary had a hand in that.

At one point in the second half, Malachi Moore swatted away a pass over the middle from Beck and then signaled that he knew what was coming. Domani Jackson had his moments. Zabien Brown almost had a pick. Jaylen Mbakwe swatted a pass away in the fourth. The Tide had 9 pass breakups.

Alabama flummoxed Beck for 3 quarters. The secondary kept him guessing, so much so that even the open throws were more of an adventure than they should have been. Beck finished with 4 turnovers and the safety. Neither he nor Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo had an answer for Alabama’s coverage until Alabama decided to take its foot off the gas.

But they took their foot off the gas. Both sides of the ball did. Georgia came storming back. Beck completed 11 of his 18 passes in the fourth quarter for 259 yards and 2 touchdowns. Just in the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs scored 19 points. With 2:31 to play, Beck hit Dillon Bell on a 67-yard stunt-and-go route that fooled Sabb. That gave Georgia its first lead of the game.

Suddenly, all the good was wiped away. One of the youngsters was supposed to be making a mistake like that in coverage. Sabb was supposed to be the safety blanket. But Georgia was an equal-opportunity aggressor as it made its comeback. No one in the Alabama secondary was safe. Beck had fought all the way back from the proverbial brink.

Then Brown — a freshman — called game.

Wommack has a unit. Alabama’s best was better than Georgia’s best early. The secondary showed its promise and its uncomfortably low floor. Can that group use this performance as a springboard?

Alabama offense goes into a shell after torrid start

It was a flawless start to the game. Alabama scored touchdowns on each of its first 4 drives. Those first 4 possessions gained 243 yards in 23 plays. Quarterback Jalen Milroe hit his first 11 passes, including chunk plays of 19, 21, and 34 yards. It was a party inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. Milroe had won the Heisman and Alabama was taking over as the favorite to win the national championship.

Then the Crimson Tide went ice cold. They turned it over on downs. Milroe was picked off. They punted on their final possession of the first half then opened the second half with a 3-and-out. A 69-yard drive ended in a field goal from the Georgia 10. Alabama got the ball right back off a Georgia fumble and then punted away after 3 plays.

The Crimson Tide produced 193 yards of total offense and just 3 points on 40 plays from the 8 drives that came after they took a 28-0 lead. Milroe didn’t do much during that stretch. Neither Justice Haynes nor Jam Miller made an imprint on the game. And Alabama ran a tempo offense at the expense of bleeding clock.

Entering Saturday’s game, Alabama’s offense was potent when it was clicking, but it wasn’t clicking as consistently as you’d like to see. The Crimson Tide had been a little too all-or-nothing with their yardage. They’d burn defenses and then go long stretches without doing much of anything.

That needs to get fixed.

Ryan Williams is a superstar

There has been a ton of attention paid to the stud freshman receiver doing awesome things in Columbus, Ohio. Not to take anything away from Jeremiah Smith, but the title of “best freshman receiver in college football” is very much contested right now. Ryan Williams is going on an All-American team. Not a Freshman team, but the actual, full-blown All-American team. Hell, put him on your Heisman ballot.

Seventeen-year-olds aren’t supposed to make these kinds of plays in these kinds of moments.

He had 6 catches for 177 yards and a touchdown. He had a 54-yard reception in the third quarter. Then he provided the highlight of the season for the Tide. Because it won the game for Alabama. Sure, he had a twirling, bobbling catch that was a huge play. But this? This was 3 plays in 1 — an adjustment to get the ball and keep his feet from landing out of bounds, an elusiveness to get away from 2 Georgia defenders, and then sheer breakaway speed to just dust them en route to the endzone.

Georgia had just taken a 34-33 lead minutes earlier. There had never been a 28-point comeback in an AP top-5 matchup before, and the Bulldogs were looking at their largest-ever comeback. And then Milroe just threw it up for his guy in 1-on-1 coverage and Williams made a little bit of magic happen.

Williams now has 6 receptions of at least 40 yards.

He has played 4 collegiate games.

Derek Peterson

Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.

You might also like...

2025 RANKINGS

presented by rankings

RAPID REACTION

presented by rankings