ATLANTA — Georgia jumped on Alabama early in the SEC championship game and proved relentless, showing no let up throughout the physical, 60-minute battle.

The No. 3-ranked Bulldogs (12-1) repeated as SEC champions with a 28-7 win over the No. 9 Crimson Tide before a crowd of 77,247 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday.

As exciting as the 22-19 overtime win over Texas was last season, the win over Alabama was more fulfilling for many of the UGA persuasion, as Kirby Smart improved to 2-7 against the Tide, avenging the 24-21 loss to Coach Kalen DeBoer’s team suffered earlier this season in Athens.

Georgia put the SEC title game away when Zachariah Branch caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Gunner Stockton to make it 28-7 with 6:51 remaining.

The Bulldogs’ defense set up the game-clinching score three plays earlier, hurrying Ty Simpson into an incompletion on fourth-and-2 from the Tide 12.

Georgia, which secured a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff with the win and is likely headed to play in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1 as a No. 2 or No. 3 seed, also snapped a four-game losing streak to the Tide in SEC championship game action.

“These fans have been through a lot of heartache and agony in these games,” Smart, who won his fourth SEC title in his 10 seasons as the program’s head coach, said in his on-field interview.

“But not tonight baby, not tonight.”

Indeed, it was Alabama that left the stadium with a shaky feeling, uncertain of its status in the 12-team CFP field after suffering its third loss of the season, falling to 10-3.

The CFP committee will determine the final two at-large spots between Alabama, No. 10 Notre Dame (10-2), and No. 12 Miami (10-2) when the rankings come out at noon on Sunday (ESPN) to determine the 12-team playoff field.

Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton was named the SEC championship game MVP after completing 20-of-26 passes for 156 yards with three touchdowns, also rushing 12 times for 39 yards.

“I think we’re clicking right now at the right moment,” Stockton said in his on-field interview. “Everyone is having fun and enjoying what they are doing.”

The Bulldogs defense certainly did as it held Alabama to 209 total yards — with minus 3-yards rushing — while Simpson three times.

Simpson was 19-of-39 passing for 212 yards with a touchdown and an interception and finished with six carries for -28 yards.

“That’s what I have to go against every day in practice,” Stockton said, “so I know what Ty feels like. I think the defense did a great job , held them to seven points.”

Alabama, which was 13-for-19 on third-down conversions in the teams’ first meeting in Athens, was 3-of-13 on Saturday and 1-of-3 on fourth-down attempts.

Early jump

Georgia flipped the script from the regular season, when it fell behind in seven of its eight SEC games, by jumping out to a 14-0 halftime lead.

The Bulldogs capitalized on a blocked punt and a Daylen Everette tipped-pass interception

Georgia tailback Rod Robinson opened the scoring for the Bulldogs with a 1-yard catch from Gunner Stockton on a third-and-goal, play-action pass.

Robinson’s catch came four plays after Cole Speer burst off the edge and blocked Blake Doud’s punt from the 21, and was recovered by Justin Williams at the 25 and returned to the line of scrimmage.

Georgia made it 14-0 on its next possession when Dillon Bell caught a 5-yard pass from Stockton with 8:43 left in the first half.

Bell’s touchdown catch capped a 14-play, 57-yard drive that started when Everette intercepted a Ty Simpson pass over the middle that was tipped by UGA safety KJ Bolden

Taking charge

Alabama got the ball to start the second half, but Georgia’s defense remained on edge, forcing three consecutive three-and-out series as the Tide struggled to get anything going.

Smart praised defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann after the game, saying it was Schumann’s defense that had come up with the plan to keep Alabama pinned down.

The Tide’s only first down of the third quarter came on the final play of the stanza, when Simpson completed a 21-yard pass from his own 9-yard line to Kaleb Edwards.

“It was about our team tonight, these guys have been told since that last (Alabama) game that they can’t beat this team,” said Smart, who kept his team pumped up throughout the game with a partisan George crowd roaring its support throughout the second half.

“Our team was really physical tonight, played an excellent game, really proud them.”

The Georgia offensive line, missing veteran center Drew Bobo, paved the way for six different ball carriers to pile up 141 yards rushing as the Bulldogs controlled the time of possession 36:52 to 23:08.

Final statement

The Tide went to the air to pull to 21-7 with 12:33 remaining in the game, Simpson connecting with Germie Bernard for a 23-yard touchdown pass with 12:33 remaining.

The Alabama score sent an anxious ripple through the building, Tide fans hoping their program could find a way to win for an 18th straight time in the city of Atlanta, a streak that dated back to a loss to a Tim Tebow-led Florida team in the SEC title game in 2008.

The 91-yard drive was aided by two key Georgia penalties -- a personal foul and pass interference -- but all that mattered was that points were put on the board, and the Bulldogs were under the gun to stay in control.

Smart entered the day 97-3 against teams when up by more than 10 points in a game — but just 1-3 against Alabama in those situations.

Georgia’s offense didn’t answer the score, but it effectively flipped the field as Brett Thorson’s punt buried Alabama at its own 4-yard line after Stockton managed a first down and avoided a third-down sack.

Four plays into the ensuing possession, Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer made the risky decision to go for a fourth-and-2 from his own 12-yard line, and Georgia came up with the stop.

The Bulldogs made the Tide pay quickly, with Stockton finding Branch on a quick pass 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage into the flats that Branch cut sharply on before racing 16 yards into the end zone.

Alabama’s last-gasp drive ended with Simpson being chased deep behind the line of scrimmage by Georgia defenders on fourth-and-10 from the UGA 17, fruitlessly flinging the ball downfield incomplete.

“They have responded in the face of so much adversity, so much criticism,” Smart said of his team on the trophy stand, “and they just kept getting better and better.”