Reports of Alabama’s football death have been greatly exaggerated.
For all of the hand-wringing and goalpost-destroying and expensive field-storming fines doled out, one thing was made crystal clear Saturday night on yet another humid night in Athens: the Alabama Crimson Tide will still have a word or 2 to say in the proceedings for the rest of the 2025 college football season.
That’s because Alabama went deep into enemy territory to deliver a resounding message to a familiar foe – the 5th-ranked Georgia Bulldogs. Perhaps you’ve heard of the Dawgs, winners of consecutive national titles in 2021 and 2022 and loaded yet again in 2025.
That epic run has been and continues to be directed by Georgia coach Kirby Smart. But the knock against Smart is that he couldn’t solve Alabama when Nick Saban was running the conference from 2007-23 – going just 1-5 against Saban’s Tide teams.
Saban may be 2 seasons removed from the Alabama sideline and manning a College GameDay telestrator instead of terrorizing the Bulldogs, but if last season’s 41-34 thriller in Tuscaloosa and Saturday night’s 24-21 object lesson by the 17th-ranked Tide proved anything it is this…
Kalen DeBoer is Smart and Georgia’s new daddy.
How could you possibly look at the results any other way? Smart, who graduated from Saban’s defensive coordinator early in Alabama’s epic run to take over his alma mater in 2016 and build a national contender, is now 1-7 against the Tide.
That isn’t a typo but a measuring stick. And you better believe it will stick with Smart until the very next time his Bulldogs strap it up against the Crimson Tide.
Listen, it isn’t even October yet. Last season at this juncture, Alabama’s white-knuckle victory over visiting Georgia vaulted the Tide into the No. 1 spot in the country. A week later, Vanderbilt knocked Alabama right off that pedestal and began a slow cascade by the Tide straight out of College Football Playoff contention.
And Georgia? The Dawgs shrugged off the fireworks in Tuscaloosa to keep on trucking en route to an SEC Championship Game victory and a first-round CFP bye before falling to Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl.
In other words, Saturday was simply 1 game in a weary slog for both Alabama and Georgia that has a wholly undefined finish line.
Georgia has tried a blackout against the Tide in Athens, and Saturday night went with 50,000 blinky-light bracelets handed out to create a rather psychedelic effect. But for all the marketing ideas to razzle up the faithful at Sanford Stadium, between the hedges has felt almost like a second home for Alabama in recent history.
The Tide downed Georgia 41-30 in 2008 in Athens, then smacked around the Dawgs in their house 38-10 in 2015. And factoring in various SEC title games along with BCS and CFP postseason appearances, well, you know the story.
Alabama controlled the proceedings through the first 30 minutes Saturday night, jumping out to a 14-0 lead and leading 24-14 at halftime. But Georgia isn’t considered one of the top teams in the country by accident, and when Josh McCray piled in from a yard out with 6:30 to go in the third quarter it sure felt like Smart was ready to exorcise the demons.
Instead, it was Alabama that stood tall when it needed to the most – forcing Georgia to punt the football away with 3:19 to play and then converting 2 key first downs to salt it away at the end and snap Georgia’s 33-game home winning streak.
“We talked about the old-school, 15-round heavyweight fight – and we knew that was what it was going to be,” DeBoer said as Rammer Jammer rang through a rapidly emptying Sanford Stadium. “I was proud of the fight these guys had. We took some punches now and then and just kept punching back. These guys just keep getting better and better every day.”
“I told my teammates before the game that it is Alabama against the world,” said Tide quarterback Ty Simpson, voice cracking after he completed a 276-yard passing night with 2 touchdowns. “That when we walk out there, we are gladiators, and this is the Colosseum. And they played like it.”
For DeBoer, who has been maligned for losing games against unranked opponents like Vanderbilt, Oklahoma and Michigan last year and then Florida State to begin the 2025 season, he is now 7-1 himself against Top 10 opponents combined at Washington and Alabama.
“We just keep them believing, keep them fighting, keep getting better,” DeBoer said when asked about that gaudy record. “And when we find an edge, we use it.”
What was the edge Saturday night? DeBoer wasn’t asked that, and he probably wouldn’t have answered anyway. But it is quite possible that the difference maker in the most recent Alabama-Georgia slugfest was the one trudging in the opposite direction and disappearing into the night under the red visor.
Back to the drawing board, Kirby Smart. Maybe – just maybe – you’ll get another shot at Alabama redemption later down the road this season.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
