To break down Georgia’s biggest regular-season win in years, go check the stat sheet. It has all the answers.
Here’s the big question: How does a “beat-up” Georgia team win 20-17 in Tuscaloosa by exhausting its running back depth?
The Bulldogs lost one of their top four backs in the off-season. Then they traveled to Tuscaloosa and found a way to earn a gritty SEC win without their top two running backs.
How did the Dawgs do it? Quarterback Gunner Stockton played brilliantly at times, but the defense played a major role.
That stat sheet will yield the following gems for defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann’s unit:
- Alabama had 10:45 of possession time in the first quarter and came away with zero points.
- The Crimson Tide was held to three points in the second half.
- The Dawgs dialed up their share of havoc: Four sacks and another six TFLs
- Alabama’s leading receiver was Ryan Coleman-Williams. He had just 39 yards.
- The Tide ran for 40 yards in the first quarter, 65 more in the second, 29 in the third, and just 27 in the final quarter.
- Keelon Russell had two scrambles that accounted for 43 of Alabama’s 56 rushing yards in the second half.
- With the game tied 17-17 in the final minutes, the Dawgs forced Alabama to punt on its last two drives.
- Russell started the game off completing four of his first six passes, but then struggled trying to weather constant pressure. He completed only five of his next 15 attempts.
The Bulldogs emphasized they wanted to be the more physical team.
“I mean, our guys grind,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “Our guys work hard. We practiced hard last week. We didn’t take the pads off Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. And they bought into that. They wanted to do that. They felt it was important to do that.”
Senior safety Khaill Barnes said that level of practice rigor was new to him when he first arrived at UGA from Clemson. But now he knows it’s simply part of the program’s DNA.
“We don’t win this game on Saturday,” Barnes said. “We win it on Monday through Friday with how we prepare.”
Perhaps the biggest defensive play of the night came with Alabama threatening late with 3:26 to go, sitting in field goal range. The Dawgs held on to that 20-17 lead with the Tide facing a 3rd-and-10 at the 34.
Smart wanted Schumann to bring the heat on that snap. Junior safety KJ Bolden and freshman DL Valdin Sone both got home to combine for the sack. The ensuing nine-yard loss became the game’s most crucial defensive stand, if not also the biggest.
“I told Schu to be aggressive,” Smart said. “If we’re aggressive, then we lose swinging and we get the ball back and we got a chance to win.”
“Like, we didn’t come here to play to lose. I didn’t come here to play to go to overtime. I came here to win. And he called up a timely blitz that knocked them out of field-goal [range].”
“I knew when they punted, our offense had, you know, started to take the anaconda effect and it was wearing them down. We had a chance to run it out, and that happened.”
Barnes praised Bolden for that key play.
“He’s built for it,” Barnes said. “No light is ever too bright. He does it every day in practice and even shout-out to Coach Schu on that call. Not many DCs will try to get them out of the field-goal range right there. So it was great all-around.”
Senior Raylen Wilson led the Dawgs with his nine tackles.
Georgia junior All-Everything candidate Chris Cole had eight tackles, 2.5 TFLs and a sack. He also broke up two passes and added another QB hurry.
Cole was asked what his key takeaway was. He mentioned the team’s popular Mudita philosophy of finding joy in seeing everyone succeed.
“This team having Mudita for each other,” Cole said. “The offense and defense, we help each other and that’s something we take pride in.”
“You know, just the defense, the way we kept fighting until basically just the end. We knew coming in there would be ups and downs, but we knew we had to stay calm, stay settled and focus on the next play to get this victory.”
