The anatomy of Alabama's epic 2021 SEC Championship victory — the last time Georgia lost

Receiver Jameson Williams was supposed to run only a 12-yard hitch, but quarterback Bryce Young saw the chance for something better.

So, Young audibled. He made a subtle motion to Williams, telling the receiver to stutter and go. The ball was snapped, Williams ran about 15 yards to the 40, hesitated, then he took off. He forced Georgia cornerback Kelee Ringo to play chase, then Williams blew by safety Lewis Cine, too.

Williams caught a pass from Young and ended up in the end zone for a 55-yard touchdown to start the second half in the 2021 SEC Championship Game.

“That just shows Bryce and how much confidence he had in himself and same with (former offensive coordinator) Bill (O’Brien), giving Bryce the reins and giving him the freedom to make that call,” said Montana Murphy, a former graduate assistant who worked with quarterbacks.

That day, the future Carolina Panthers quarterback completed 26 of 44 passes for 421 yards and three touchdowns against a Georgia defense that had given up an average of 6.92 points per game. Young's efforts led Alabama football to a 41-24 victory over the Bulldogs, winning the SEC crown and securing a spot in the College Football Playoff.

“That win is one of my favorite wins in the six seasons I was there,” Murphy said. “Just because it was one of the rare times where we were counted out. No one had had us winning the game. They thought we were going to get blown out. All the talk was about how Georgia had the greatest defense in college football history.”

Fast forward two years, and the Crimson Tide finds itself in a similar situation. Fresh off an emotional Iron Bowl victory at Jordan-Hare Stadium, the Crimson Tide will face an undefeated No. 1 Bulldogs team in the SEC Championship Game. Once again, Georgia is favored to win. For Alabama to have a shot at the College Football Playoff, it has to find a way to pull off the upset versus a Bulldogs team that has won an SEC-record 29 consecutive games.

Their last loss? The 2021 SEC Championship Game.

Here’s a look at how Alabama beat since-unbeatable Georgia.

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Alabama football out to remind everyone 'who's a little delusional'

Linebacker Christian Harris tried to avoid the talk in the media about Alabama having little to no shot versus Georgia, or as coach Nick Saban called it “rat poison.”

“Still at the same time, you would still end up seeing it somehow or hearing about it," Harris told The Tuscaloosa News. "You don’t really let it get to you too much. We knew who we were.”

Cornerback Jalyn Armour-Davis took it one step further and said he loved the lack of faith outside of the football facility.

“People were doubting the Alabama dynasty, Alabama falling off and all that,” Armour-Davis told The Tuscaloosa News. “It’s always nice to take an opportunity like that to remind everyone who’s a little delusional."

It can be easy, however, to let negative talk creep in when facing a daunting opponent, Murphy said. “You start crossing out things you can and can’t do off of expectations of the other team. We didn’t really have that.”

Stomping out the pessimistic thoughts started at the top with Saban, but O’Brien also played a key role in the offense staying sharp mentally.

Forget everything, and forget what everyone’s saying; that was O'Brien's message to the offense, per Murphy’s recollection. Forget those guys. Go out there and get after them. (Though, per Murphy, O'Brien might have used a different F word than "forget").

“Throughout the week all leading up to it, practice, meetings, everywhere, that was his message: Tough, get after these guys and execute,” Murphy said.

Young listened and heeded those words. His preparation didn’t change, even though he just had his Heisman Trophy moment against Auburn in the Iron Bowl, likely locking up college football’s top individual award. Young could have let that get to his head and slacked, but that wasn’t his nature.

“He never wavered,” Murphy said.

Neither did Alabama.

Falling behind then climbing ahead

Georgia tight end Darnell Washington snagged the pass and scored his team’s first touchdown less than a minute into the second quarter. The Bulldogs held a 10-0 lead, and the game looked to be shaping up how many predicted.

In that exact moment, Georgia had an 84.2% chance to win, per ESPN analytics.

“At that point, we had to rise together,” safety Jordan Battle told The Tuscaloosa News. “We couldn’t get to pointing fingers at anybody.”

Instead, Williams got to work. He took a pass from Young and dashed across the middle of the field, speeding past Georgia defenders 67 yards to the end zone. Alabama was right back in it.

“That was a beautiful sight,” Battle said. “We knew whenever Jamo caught the ball ... it wasn’t really him catching the ball. It was more of the aftermath of him catching the ball. What he did after catching the ball. We knew he had the speed and once he got going, nobody was going to catch him.”

Alabama scored 24 points in the second quarter alone against a defense that seldom gave up touchdowns. Watching film, the Crimson Tide found spots it could attack on the defensive line everyone had raved about, Murphy said.

"Especially getting those big guys like (defensive tackle) Jordan Davis tired," Murphy said. "They didn't play the same."

Even though Davis got much of the publicity and attention, Alabama decided to put more emphasis on stopping defensive tackle Jalen Carter, a good call considering he went on to become a top-10 draft pick. "We thought he was the best player on that defense," Murphy said. "Everyone was only talking about their linebackers and Jordan Davis and everybody. We keyed (Carter) heavy because we knew he could cause some issues. We just wore them down."

Alabama had a lead at halftime, but only by 24-17. The work was far from done. A strong second half was required, too.

Jameson and Jordan turn on the jets

The strike to Williams couldn’t have come at a better time.

Young's throw to Williams on the stutter and go for his second touchdown of the game zapped any chance Georgia had at gaining momentum after halftime. Alabama grabbed a 31-17 lead with Williams’ 55-yard score.

Then Battle all but squashed any hopes Georgia had of a comeback early in the fourth quarter.

He stepped in front of one of Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett’s passes and took it to the end zone for a pick six, giving Alabama a 31-17 lead. Battle recalled disguising a Cover 2 defense to take Bennett’s eyes off the deep post so he would have to come back to his check down or post route across the middle.

“We did a great job disguising that and from there, I took my quarters drop, took a step over, and I see the ball released, and I caught it and I had no other intentions but to take it to the end zone,” Battle said. “It was a great feeling. It kind of felt like that was the play that took the heart out of them for the rest of the game.”

After the game ended, Battle ran over to a suite near field level where his dad and brother sat. He gave his gloves that picked off that ball to his brother.

“That was a surreal moment seeing them out there and celebrating with my teammates,” Battle said, “just knowing that going into the game we know we had a lot of doubt and we came out and pulled off a great win.”

This weekend, Alabama looks to do the same.

Nick Kelly covers Alabama football and men's basketball for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Inside Alabama football's epic win vs. Georgia in 2021 SEC Championship