Georgia football vs. Alabama: Scouting report, prediction
Kirby Smart is taking Georgia football to the SEC Championship Game for the sixth time in his eight seasons as head coach.
Nick Saban is back with Alabama in the league title tilt for the 10th time in 17 seasons with the Crimson Tide.
“You don’t get an opportunity to play a team that’s won 29 straight games very often, which speaks to their quality but it also speaks to the challenge and the opportunity our team has in preparing for a team like this,” Saban said.
For the fifth time in the last six games, Georgia and Alabama meet with a championship on the line.
More: Here's why this matchup against Alabama is different for Georgia football
More: Georgia football has assistant coach opening. Names that make sense to replace Fran Brown
.There are of course major playoff implications.
Georgia would lock up a semifinal spot with a win. Alabama would be out of the playoff picture with a loss.
Georgia football vs. Alabama in SEC Championship: 5 things to know
The Jalen Milroe Show
Kirby Smart’s former offensive coordinator, Todd Monken, now coaches Lamar Jackson.
Smart and Georgia’s defense will have to contend with a quarterback who the Bulldogs coach mentioned in the same breath with the Baltimore Ravens star.
“When I used to ask who my sons were playing on the Madden game, they would say they were playing with the Ravens,” Smart said. "When I asked why they were playing with the Ravens, they would say, 'They've got Lamar Jackson, and nobody can tackle him.' This guy is a bigger, more physical version of that. He's playing at a different speed than everybody else."
Put on the tape.
Here is Milroe scoring a touchdown on a designed run. There he is powering for a touchdown on a third-and-1. Watch him scramble on third-and-9 and go 21 yards for a touchdown. There he goes for a 37-yard run.
“When you've got ability to run the ball as a designed run and then you also can run the ball in your scrambles, it just makes it harder to defend,” Smart said.
In his past four games Milroe has rushed for 287 yards and seven touchdowns while averaging 6.1 yards per carry.
“People do try to spy him, and their spy can't get him on the ground,” Smart said.
"We’re just going to try and do what we do best, a lot of plaster,” nickelback Tykee Smith said. “When we get a chance to tackle him we’ve got to make sure we wrap up because he ain’t a little guy.”
Milroe, who was benched for a week 3 game against South Florida game after a loss to Texas, is third in the nation in pass efficiency with 21 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.
"His transformation at the quarterback position has helped us transform our entire offensive team," Saban said. "The confidence that he's playing with, and the confidence that our players have in him — I think we've done a pretty good job of trying to utilize the skill set that he has, and he's learned that the most important thing at his position is to distribute the ball.”
Milroe is tied for sixth in the nation with passes of 40 or more yards with 15.
Georgia is tied for fourth in the country for fewest passes allowed of 40 or more yards with 3.
“The guy’s going to make plays, that’s inevitable,” safety Javon Bullard said. “The guy’s a tremendous athlete, he’s going to extend plays. We’ve just got to do our best job to slow that down throughout the game.”
Georgia Bulldogs turn focus to improving run defense
No opponent reached 150 rushing yards against Georgia the past three seasons.
Georgia Tech last Saturday became the second this season to top 200 yards.
Georgia had six missed tackles against Georgia Tech, tied for its second most this season, according to Pro Football Focus.
Bullard chalked it up “to not playing aggressive enough. Those guys played like they wanted to win, man. … It starts up front, with us, the defense, the Jimmys and Joes. It starts with the players.”
A good sign may have been Georgia’s Tuesday practice.
Running back Kendall Milton called it “one of the most physical, chippiest practices that we’ve had all year.”
That came three days after Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King scored on touchdown runs of 9 and 5 yards. Auburn QB Payton Thorne put up 92 rushing yards on 12 carries against the Bulldogs.
So what did the film review show from Saturday?
“There are some miss-fits in there, some guys maybe not keying what they're supposed to key and looking at what they're supposed to key,” Smart said. “And then some of it is I actually thought that we struck blocks and played the blocks really well up front, better than I thought coming out. It was not a matter of, oh, we just got whipped. It was a matter of some things we didn't fit well and we didn't knock back tackle, so instead of second and seven, it's second and four."
Run the damn ball, Kendall Milton
Carson Beck has thrown the second most passes of any SEC quarterback this season, but the Bulldogs have leaned more heavily on its ground game the last three weeks.
Part of that may have to do with injuries to pass-catchers, but the way Kendall Milton is now running the ball is certainly a factor for Georgia runs accounting for 59.7 percent of offensive plays during that stretch.
Milton has rushed for 349 yards on 41 carries and 5 touchdowns the last three games with an 8.5 yards per carry average.
“What better person to do the things he's done but Kendall?” Bullard said. “The guy has been through so much as far as injuries. ... I'm happy he's on my team. 6-2, 240 coming downhill with a full head of steam, that’s a lot.”
Milton is running with full confidence now after being hesitant coming off hamstring and MCL injuries this season.
“It was a whole lot of trial and error, a whole lot of different cuts I had to make,” he said. “I had to feel like what it felt to get tackled again, to get twisted up sometimes.”
Said Smart: “I feel like he's hitting the hole a lot harder because he's more confident, and being explosive is getting to the secondary. You're not going to be an explosive run offense if you don't get your backs to the secondary."
Jermaine Burton from Georgia Bulldog to Alabama football
Jermaine Burton’s last game in a Georgia uniform included a pair of catches, the last an 18-yarder to start the go-ahead fourth-quarter touchdown drive in a 33-18 Bulldogs win against Alabama in the 2021 season's national championship game
Then he transferred to the Crimson Tide.
“We thought he was a good player when we played against him, so that was probably the reason for our interest in him to start with,” Saban said. “He hasn’t disappointed us with his performance on the field. We continue to work on his ability to stay focused on, you know, do your job well, create value every play in terms of what you do and be consistent in your performance.”
Burton leads Alabama with 749 receiving yards and seven touchdown on 33 catches.
“He’s a very crafty receiver,” cornerback Kamari Lassiter said. “He understands coverages. He understands how to attack leverages.”
His 22.7 yards per catch is second nationally.
“I’m excited man,” Bullard said. “I’m pretty sure Jermaine’s excited too. It’s going to be a great matchup. I can’t wait to see him play.”
Inside linebacker Trezman Marshall also transferred from Georgia to Alabama last offseason. He’s started nine games and is seventh on the team with 50 tackles and has 2 ½ sacks.
“When we’re on the field, business is business,” Smith said.
Georgia football offense talent run deep
It was apparent by midday Monday that Saban had his head in Georgia film study up to his ears.
He was asked about tight end Brock Bowers and wide receiver Ladd McConkey missing time with injury and brought up other players who picked up the slack with them out.
“The players who have played for those guys and this speaks to the depth of Georgia’s team, 4 (Oscar Delp) is a really good tight end and has done a really, really good job. 1 (Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint), 86 (Dillon Bell), 5 (Rara Thomas) the other receivers that have played, they’ve done a good job and they’re really, really good players.”
Beck was an Alabama commitment from June 2018 through Feb. 4, 2019.
He’ll go up against an Alabama defense that may have two first-round draft picks at cornerback in Terrion Arnold and Kool-Aid McKinstry. Alabama also has an elite pass rusher in Dallas Turner who has eight sacks, but Beck has too many good targets, former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray said, and an offense under coordinator Mike Bobo that uses them well.
“They have more shifts and motions in one game then I had in four years playing football at Georgia,” Murray said. “We just lined up and played. Now it seems like every play is a shift and motion and moving guys around and creating matchups.”
Georgia football vs. Alabama prediction
Georgia 31, Alabama 24
Georgia allowed just three teams to hit 20 points against them in the regular season last year. Six have done it this season, but none more than 23. This is the best defense Alabama has faced and the Bulldogs will be going up against a team that has given up more than 200 yards rushing in two of the last four games. Milroe makes this a close game, but Georgia adds another win to its streak.
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Here are five things to know for Georgia football vs. Alabama
