ATHENS — Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson was dialed in, and the Tide had Kirby Smart’s number once again.

Alabama beat Georgia 24-21 on Saturday night at Sanford Stadium, snapping the Bulldogs’ school-record 33-game home win streak while dropping Smart to 1-7 against Crimson Tide teams.

Simpson was 24-of-38 passing for 276 yards and two touchdowns, also running for a 2-yard touchdown in the final moments of the first half.

“I told them before the game, ’it’s Alabama against the world, when we walk out there, we’re gladiators, and this is the coliseum,’ “ Simpson said in his on-field interview after the game,.

“We played complimentary football, when we couldn’t get it going on offense in the second half, our defense did a helluva job.”

The No. 17-ranked Crimson Tide (3-1, 1-0 SEC) appeared a step ahead of No. 5 Georgia (3-1, 1-1) throughout the night, an eye-popping 13 of 19 converting third downs, while the Alabama defense held the Bulldogs to 2 of 8 on third-down conversions.

“I’ve coached a lot of years and we’ve never been 13 of 19 on third down, and that tells the tale of the game,” Smart said. “We controlled the line of scrimmage and held the run down for them, which was the goal, and then we got win on third down, and we did not play well on third down, and it showed pretty much all night.”

The Tide charged out to a 14-0 lead and 24-14 halftime advantage behind Simpson’s flawless play.

Georgia appeared to get the momentum back when it scored on its opening possession of the second half to cut the lead to 24-21 and proceeded to stop Alabama on a fourth-and-1 at the UGA 47 on the Tide’s ensuing possession.

The lead was within the Bulldogs’ grasp moments later when Gunner Stockton (13 of 20, 120 yards, one touchdown) hit a wide-open Tayln Taylor in stride at the Alabama 11, only to see the freshman receiver drop the pass with nothing but open field between him and the end zone with 3:03 left in the third quarter.

Georgia saw another scoring opportunity vanish when Smart opted to go for a fourth-and-1 at the Alabama 8-yard line with 13:20 left in the game rather than attempt what could have been a game-tying 25-yard field goal.

The Bulldogs went to the line quickly after Stockton picked up 2 yards running on a third-and-3 from the Tide 10-yard line, only to see tailback Cash Jones dropped for a 3-yard loss on the pivotal fourth-and-1 play call.

“I’d do that 10 out of 10 times in terms of going for it,” Smart said. “The decision is whether you go for it with tempo or not. We felt like tempo had been really good for us throughout the year.”

Here are three quick takeaways from Georgia’s loss to Alabama on Saturday at Sanford Stadium:

Slow start

Tide coach Kalen DeBoer deserves some credit for Georgia’s slow start on Saturday — he’s 7-1 against Top 10 opponents for a reason, with an elite game-planning and play-calling history.

Alabama’s opening offensive script has shredded the Georgia defense two consecutive years, scoring four touchdowns in the opening half in Tuscaloosa last season and three in Athens on Saturday.

But the Bulldogs also gave up three first-quarter touchdowns against Tennessee two weeks ago, and slow starts are becoming a trend for Smart’s program.

“We got to do a better job as coaches to help those players start better,” Smart said. “It’s because we were spotting people too much and not executing at a high level. Sometimes it’s execution. Sometimes it’s, hey, they got a good call, they got a good play call, and they go out and execute against us.

“But if I didn’t think we could cover them or didn’t think we could stop them, it’d be disappointing.”

Costly mistakes

Georgia tailback Nate Frazier had ball security issues last season, and his second fumble of this season, at the UGA 11 in the second quarter, cost the Bulldogs three points and much-needed early momentum.

Smart was not happy with the timing of some of the blitz calls and execution.

“We’ve got more packages than the man in the moon to affect the quarterback, but we’ve gotta do it,” Smart said. “We gotta do it, and we gotta go out there and execute and be able to do it.

“They hit us on two or three screens tonight that were really good play calls for them, and you’ve gotta be smart when you’re looking for pressure when they’re running screens.”

Georgia’s defensive backs, specifically, had key mistakes and missed opportunities, from KJ Bolden dropping an interception, to former 5-star recruit Ellis Robinson IV committing a costly personal foul.

Positive Notes

Chauncey Bowens made his bid to become the primary running back with his 12-carry, 119-yard rushing performance, leading some to wonder why he wasn’t the choice on the fourth-and-1 call in the fourth quarter with the game on the line.

“Man, he ran hard, he ran physical, he got yards after contact,” Smart said. “He protected the ball. He was tough. He was getting better with his pass pro, catching the ball. I was proud of the way he ran, but it’s not all him. There was a lot of good run scheme in that game that helped us run the ball.”

Stockton’s numbers were modest, but he avoided turning the ball over and came up with timely plays, even if Smart noted there’s a need for the pass game to improve.

“For Gunner, there was a couple times pocket broke down, and he tried to protect the ball …. “ Smart said. “Then being able to throw the ball and catch the ball with more consistency. We’ve got to be able to do that. We know what our identity is. We know who we are.

“The problem is to do that, you’ve got to play better defensively. And to be a hard-nosed, run team, physical, grind it out and be able to hit some shots. I mean, we hit some shots. We didn’t make all our shots, but it’s hard to play from behind all the time.”