ATLANTA — Ty Simpson left Mercedes-Benz Stadium battered, beaten and burned by the “Fire, Passion and Energy” Kirby Smart has preached throughout the season.

Georgia (12-1) claimed SEC superiority by repeating as league champions in a 28-7 win over Alabama, clinching a first-round bye and likely Sugar Bowl trip as the No 2 or No 3 seed.

The UGA defense held Alabama to a season-low 209 yards of offense, as Simpson was 19-of-39 passing for 212 yards with a touchdown and an interception that led to a Georgia touchdown.

“We have a standard as an offense in general; actually, we know we’re the best offense in the country,” Simpson said of the offensive struggles. “Then when we don’t show it, it’s very frustrating, especially times when we’re just a couple things away.

“Like I said, credit to Georgia’s defense, right? They had a good plan. That’s pretty much simple as that.”

Simpson said that plan involved a lot of defensive pressure, in relentless fashion.

“They did a good job of bringing some pressures, right? Almost like they were bringing somebody on almost every down,” said Simpson, who was sacked three times and kept off schedule as the Tide finished with negative yards rushing (minus-3) for the first time in its regular-season history.

“But we kind of knew what they were expecting to a sense of what they did in the second half last game. They played tight coverage. Got to make some throws, some catches, got to do the little things right….”

Among those things, Simpson said, was recognizing blitzes he had seen before — but not necessarily from Georgia.

“They had some copycat blitzes from people that we’ve seen before,” Simpson said. “We picked it up some. But I got to be better at just communicating in general, right?”

Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer was proud of his team’s effort in a game filled with physicality and familiarity.

“You got two teams out there, know each other pretty well over the last two seasons, what the strengths are,” said DeBoer, who’s now 6-2 against top-10 ranked teams.

“Two teams that fight. Two teams that play hard. Got to this point, laid it out on the line. I’m proud of our guys. I’ll never question the heart, the fight, what these guys bring.”

Alabama (10-3) ranked No. 9 entering the game, now finds itself fighting for its College Football Playoff life, as the selection committee must sort out the final at-large teams as No. 10 Notre Dame (10-2) and No. 12 Miami (10-2) sat idle.

If you’re really looking at this game, it was a 14-point game with seven and a half minutes to go and we had the ball …. against a really good team that knows us well and we know them well,” DeBoer said.

“If this game applies to (the CFP) and takes away from our résumé, I don’t think that’s right — I really don’t, (and) I think the precedence has been set,” said DeBoer, who watched his team miss the College Football Playoff last season even after SMU lost in the ACC championship game.

“I don’t know how you can go into a conference playoff game when you’re the No. 1 seed, did all these things throughout the year,” DeBoer said, “and (you’re) playing in this game against one of the top teams in the country, as well; how that can hurt you and keep you out of the playoff.”

Simpson’s confidence, as indicated by his confidence in his team’s offensive prowess, was not shaken.

“I’m not nervous at all, right? It’s not up to me, I think that our résumé speaks to itself,” Simpson said of the Tide’s CFP uncertainty. “We went through a gauntlet of a schedule. SEC is the best conference in the country. That’s a really good team. That’s pretty much simple as that, right?

“We went through a tough schedule and we’re the most resilient team in the country. Everything, our résumé, speaks for itself.”