Why Alabama had to start its comeback early to top Georgia | Goodbread

ATLANTA − Time and again this football season, Alabama football has gone into halftime looking like a pretty average team, only to electrify in the second half to pull out a victory.

It happened in Tampa against South Florida, and no fewer than three times at Bryant-Denny Stadium against the likes of Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Tennessee.

But a two-quarter turnaround was never going to be enough against a two-time defending national champion. After all, nobody had beaten Georgia in four quarters for two solid calendar years, much less two.

This time, the wake-up call had to come sooner.

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And after a lackluster first quarter, the Crimson Tide utterly dominated the second quarter and ultimately surged to a 27-24 win over the Georgia Bulldogs Saturday to win the 2023 SEC Championship, Nick Saban's ninth at Alabama. It also brought Georgia's two-year dominance in college football full circle, its 29-game win streak both beginning and ending with losses to Alabama in the SEC title game. The victory puts Alabama (12-1) in position for a potential berth in the College Football Playoff; the CFP's selection committee will reveal its four-team field Sunday at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN.

At the heart of Alabama's rebound from a 7-0 deficit was outstanding play from its offensive line. Yep, the same line that was maligned for its poor play early in the season began blowing open holes in the Georgia defense to get Alabama's running game started, and even more surprisingly, gave quarterback Jalen Milroe all sorts of time to throw most of his passes. The redshirt sophomore didn't even record a completion until Alabama's fourth possession, but after spending a quarter looking like his more uncomfortable September self, Milroe found a groove.

And the time he got to throw was a big reason why.

Alabama punched in a fourth-quarter touchdown for a 27-17 lead that ultimately proved to be the winning points. And when the game was on the line in the final minutes, with the Crimson Tide clinging to a 27-24 lead and needing to burn clock, the blocking up front was what got that done.

By game's end, Alabama had seized a league title few would've thought possible back in August. Like it's done for much of the season, the Crimson Tide looked listless early. And this time, waiting around until the halftime speech to play better would've been too late.

Toppling Georgia demanded a quicker bounce-back.

And it was the unit thought to be the weak link on this team that helped ignite it.

Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23 and the Talkin' Tide podcast. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @chasegoodbread.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Why Alabama had to start its comeback early to top Georgia