ATLANTA – The top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs entered Saturday’s anticipated Southeastern Conference football championship game with a historically stout defense, having allowed just 6.9 points per contest this season.
They hadn’t faced Alabama.
Behind the dual-threat talents of sophomore quarterback Bryce Young, the No. 3 Crimson Tide racked up 319 yards and 24 points in the second quarter alone in stunning undefeated Georgia 41-24 before 78,030 fans in Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Young cemented his candidacy for the Heisman Trophy by completing 26 of 44 passes for 421 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing three times for 40 yards and a score.
Alabama entered Saturday’s showdown as a 6.5-point underdog, the largest underdog role for the Tide in 13 seasons, but the outcome yielded an eighth league championship for Nick Saban’s program in the last 13 years.
“I think what these guys really wanted to gain was more respect,” Saban said. “It wasn’t just the fact that they were underdogs, because I think we had a tremendous amount of respect for Georgia, their team and what they accomplished, but you guys gave us a lot of really positive rat poison. The rat poison that you usually give us is usually fatal, but the rat poison that you put out there this week was yummy.”