University of Georgia head coach Kirby Smart finally got it done against his former boss Nick Saban.
Alabama fought hard but ultimately fell to the Georgia Bulldogs 33-18 in the game that mattered most. The National Championship game this year featured the undisputed two best teams in the nation.
While Georgia looked like the top dog in the nation all year, the Crimson Tide took the Dawgs down in the SEC Championship Game. While most people still thought that Georgia was the better team, Alabama looked like they had the recipe to stop Smart’s 2022 squad.
Alabama won the SEC Championship 41-24 in a convincing win. Quarterback Bryce Young had the game of his life against the Bulldogs in that game and used it to propel himself to a Heisman Trophy. They were able to beat Georgia in Atlanta, and it seemed like another Saban title was on its way.
Georgia seemed to have taken that loss personally, though, and came out ready for the National Championship with defense being a staple in this game for both teams. Alabama led 9-6 at the end of the second half. Both teams had scored only field goals in the first half, and defense was running the show for both sides.
However, in the second half, both offenses started leaning on the run, with running back James Cook getting a long run past Alabama’s defense to set up the first touchdown of the game. Georgia got the first touchdown of the game to go up 13-9 on a one-yard run from Zamir White.
White and Cook combined for 161 yards in the game, even after being relatively shut down in the first half by Alabama’s defense. The Tide also began to lean on the run game more in the second half with Brian Robinson Jr. becoming a bit of a workhorse with 22 carries in the game. Unfortunately that only produced 68 yards.
While the run game was relatively balanced between both teams, the passing game was a different story. Bulldogs signal-caller Stetson Bennett IV threw less than half of the number of passes that Bryce Young did. Bennett, the former walk-on, completed 17 of his 26 passes for 224 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions.
Young went 35-57 through the air for one touchdown and two interceptions. Young has been one of the best players in the country season, but with star wide receivers John Metchie III and Jameson Williams both out, it was a tough night for him. Williams went down with a leg injury in the first half.
Bennett got the better of Young this time around, creating an edge towards Georgia.
The other edge Georgia had was defense.
In the pre-game, we discussed how Alabama’s defense was going to be the difference in this game. While Georgia’s defense had some amazing plays to continue to hold Alabama to field goals most of the game, the Tide was torching them up and down the field much of the second half.
However, Georgia’s defense was able to hold Alabama to the same amount of points that they scored in the first half. While Alabama’s defense gave up 20 points in the second half, Georgia scored 27 in the second half, one of which was on a pick-six.
That pick-six was with under two minutes remaining while Alabama was trying to come up with a drive to tie the game. Young had a lot of pressure and made a difficult pass that went into the hands of Kelee Ringo.
Ringo ran it back 79 yards for a touchdown to effectively end the game with under a minute left in the game.
Let the confetti fall, let Athens begin to celebrate, and let Saban and his team get back to work for the 2022 football season.
Hayden Crigler is a contributing college football and college basketball writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him through email: Hayden@yellowhammernews.com or on Twitter: @hayden_crigler.
