Alabama’s head coach Nick Saban walks the sideline.ATHENS, Ga. — If Georgia can hang with Alabama through the first half of Saturday’s Southeastern Conference football championship game in Atlanta, the Bulldogs should pull away in the third quarter.
At least that’s what the numbers show.
While the Crimson Tide have been superior to the Bulldogs this season in the first, second and fourth quarters, Georgia has been decidedly better in the third. The Bulldogs have scored 155 points and allowed 27 during the first 15 minutes after halftime, while Alabama’s edge is a more modest 51-24.
“I guess we’ve made some adjustments and played well coming out in the second half,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “I think a lot of it is the fact that when we win the coin toss, we defer to the second half. We’ve gotten the ball for one more possession in the third quarter because we are the ones getting the ball first. We’ve won a lot of coin tosses.
“As far as this game, I don’t know if it means a whole lot, really. I think every series is going to be very, very important.”