No. 1 Georgia football derailed by nemesis Alabama in SEC title game to snap win streak

ATLANTA — For the first time in 728 days, the Georgia football team played a game and didn’t leave the field the winner.

No. 8 Alabama, showing it’s not done being a nemesis, ended the No. 1 Bulldogs’ SEC record 29-game winning streak Saturday with a 27-24 takedown in the SEC championship game.

The loss in Mercedes-Benz Stadium may end 12-1 Georgia’s hopes of winning a third straight national title.

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The College Football Playoff selection committee four playoff teams will be revealed at 12:15 p.m. Sunday on ESPN.

The 5.5-point underdog Crimson Tide became the first team to beat Georgia since the Crimson Tide did it on the same Mercedes-Stadium field in the 2021 conference title game on Dec. 4, 2021.

Here are three things we learned as Alabama won for the eighth time in the last nine games to Georgia:

No comeback completed from halftime deficit this time

Georgia found itself in rare territory — trailing at the half.

Only once did that happen this season, 14-3 against South Carolina in week three. The Bulldogs rallied to win that one 24-14.

This time Georgia pulled within 20-17 in the fourth quarter, but Alabama answered with a touchdown drive of its own.

Jalen Milroe (13 of 23 for 192 yards and 2 TDs) flicked a third-and-2 pass to Isaiah Bond for 13 yards, found Bond again for 11 and scored on a Raydell Williams 1-yard dive with 5:47 to go.

The Bulldogs drove and got a 1-yard Kendall Milton touchdown with 2:52 to go to pull within a field goal again.

Milroe threw incomplete on his first four passes of the game, but hit three as the Crimson Tide grabbed a 10-7 lead.

An 18-yard completion to Kobe Prentice on the sideline had 15 more yards tacked on due to a Javon Bullard facemask.

Milroe hit running back Jam Miller on the left side for a 28-yard touchdown. Freshman linebacker Raylen Wilson got picked on the play, leaving a wide open Miller for a 10-7 lead.

The Tide increased its lead when Milroe completed a pair of passes against cornerback, Daylen Everette.

On a fourth-and-4 at the 37, a diving Isiah Bond snagged a 22-yard completion—that replay indicated it hit the ground. Mirloe then hit former Georgia receiver Jermaine Burton for 15 yards coming across the middle of the end zone.

Alabama got the ball at the 11-yard line after an end around exchange between Beck and Dillon Bell was fumbled and former Bulldog Trezman Marshall recovered.

The Tide got a 28-yard field goal to go up 20-10 with 48 seconds left in the third.

Georgia football offense kept in check

Georgia’s offense, one of the nation’s best this season, was stymied until the fourth quarter.

The Bulldogs had just 10 points until a 28-yard punt return from Anthony Evans set the Bulldogs up for great field position at the Alabama 35 in the fourth quarter.

Carson Beck (21 of 29 for 243 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions) went in on a 1-yard touchdown run with 10:16 to go after a 15-yard completion to Ladd McConkey.

Georgia had trailed out of the gate in five of the last six games, but coordinator Mike Bobo scripted a near flawless 8-play, 83-yard first drive capped by a 17-yard Kendall Milton touchdown run on the right side.

The Bulldogs came away empty-handed the next four times they touched the ball in the first half.

Georgia went three-and-out on two straight possessions, losing right tackle to an ankle injury on the second drive.

Georgia got in field goal range, but Earnest Greene gave up a sack and then Jared Wilson was flagged for a false start. Peyton Woodring missed from 50 yards off the upright.

Georgia had 163 yards on 33 plays — a 4.94 average — before Beck hit a deep ball to Arian Smith on left side for 51 yards. The Bulldogs still had to settle for a 34-yard Woodring field goal to cut the lead to 17-10.

Nick Saban gets back in win column against Kirby Smart and Georgia

Nick Saban, the 72-year old considered by many the greatest college football coach of all-time, turned the tables on Kirby Smart after losing in the national championship game to Georgia in January 2022 in Indianapolis.

Saban is now 5-1 against Smart, an assistant under Saban for nine seasons at Alabama and before that with the Dolphins and LSU.

Alabama has now won nine straight SEC Championship game appearances and its last 17 games in Atlanta.

Georgia fell to 0-4 in SEC Championship games against Alabama, losing in 2021, 2018 and 2012.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia football sees 29-game winning streak snapped by Alabama