Another Georgia-Alabama classic. Will there be a second round this season?

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Georgia football’s most recent loss to Alabama resulted in elimination from the playoffs.

Saturday night’s 41-34 loss – another classic chapter between these strong programs – will not be a sure-fire success.

For one thing, it’s now a 12-team playoff.

“There’s still a lot of season ahead of us,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said of his own team after ensuring Georgia didn’t fall to 0-12 in the regular season for the fourth straight season.

The Bulldogs are 3-1, 1-1 in the SEC.

“We’re definitely not done yet, especially with the season coming up,” quarterback Carson Beck told reporters.

The path of Georgia football lies ahead

The toughest games for Georgia after Ole Miss’s upset at home against Kentucky look like Texas and at home against Tennessee.

Then maybe, just maybe, a rematch with Alabama in the SEC championship game, if not in the playoffs.

Well, not if Georgia’s four turnovers on Saturday — including three Beck interceptions — are a sign of things to come.

Were Georgia’s second-half defensive adjustments in the top-five matchup a good sign for a potential next meeting with Alabama, or do the 8.42 yards per play tell the real story?

That was the highest number of players forfeited in a game in Kirby Smart’s nine years as head coach, according to data from cfbstats.com. So it’s no surprise that Georgia’s 30-7 halftime deficit was its largest since the 31-0 loss to Ole Miss early in Smart’s first season in 2016.

Obviously, Georgia won’t be facing another quarterback comparable to Jalen Milroe, who had 491 yards of offense – 374 passes and 117 runs, as well as four total touchdowns.

“We were more aggressive in the first half and took advantage of some chances,” Smart said. “There were probably some issues – they did a good job of tackling the run and pass with him… He’s really hard to defend. So you have to pick your poison. Do you want the guy to take off and beat you in running? Do you want to play loose coverage and try to keep an eye on him so he doesn’t take off? He ran the ball well on the sidelines and we lost control, and then he threw the ball well too, which made it really difficult. In the second half we played tighter coverage, made a few stops and had possession on offense. When you stop, you give yourself a chance.

When Georgia’s offense came to life

The Bulldogs were one-dimensional offensively and a 28-0 loss didn’t help matters.

Georgia rushed for 80 yards on 26 carries, a 3.1 average, and gained 439 yards, the most since a 49-3 win over Oregon to open the 2022 season.

Georgia’s offense finally got going in the second half when Alabama had what appeared to be a commanding lead.

At that point, Beck completed five passes of more than 30 yards, including 47 yards to Arian Smith (six catches, 132 yards, TD) and Dillon Bell (five catches for 100 yards, TD).

Beck was 27 for 50 for 439 yards, the most by a Georgia QB since Eric Zeier had 441 against Vanderbilt in 1994. He threw all three of his touchdown passes in the second half.

“We were more explosive, but so were they,” Smart said.

Beck’s 67-yard touchdown to Bell with 2:31 left briefly gave Georgia a 34-33 lead. Georgia thought it could improve the game by taking advantage of Alabama’s aggressive safeties.

Georgia football coach Kirby Smart questions the approach to Alabama’s Ryan Williams

Then on the next play, Milroe answered with a 75-yard touchdown to fabulous freshman Ryan Williams, who had 6 catches for 177 yards.

Williams made a diving and spinning catch down the sideline behind Julian Humprhey, eluding KJ Bolden and Humphrey on the way to the end zone. Earlier, Williams made a catch after bobbing the ball on a 54-yard gain.

“If I had it to do over again, we would challenge him more and compete with him,” Smart said. “We were wrong a lot, but the move he made wasn’t reported in the press until late. And you know, it’s okay to give that up. It’s difficult, but we caught the ball. But you have to get involved. You have to get him on the ground.”

Smart liked what he saw after Georgia was on the ground, but it turned out it didn’t quite pan out.

“I didn’t want to leave the field without telling each of them how much I appreciated how they responded to some pretty serious adversity,” he said.

Georgia football’s Alabama is struggling

Since the start of the 2021 season, Smart has only lost three games.

The path of Georgia football lies ahead

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