Ryan Williams, Alabama survive Georgia’s epic comeback: What did we learn from top-5 thriller?
A top-five matchup that started as a blowout turned into an instant classic, as No. 4 Alabama outlasted No. 2 Georgia 41-34 after giving away a 23-point halftime lead in a battle of SEC heavyweights and national title hopefuls.
Alabama led 30-7 at the half after scoring on its first four offensive possessions, but quarterback Carson Beck and the Bulldogs offense came alive in the second half, ripping off three consecutive touchdowns in the fourth quarter to take a 34-33 lead.
Beck connected with Dillon Bell for a 67-yard touchdown to put Georgia ahead for the first time with 2:31 to play. But the Alabama offense struck back in highlight-reel fashion with a 75-yard touchdown pass from Jalen Milroe to freshman Ryan Williams on the next play from scrimmage.
HE IS HIM.🤫@Ryanwms1
📺: ABC pic.twitter.com/TEvs07ca3t
— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) September 29, 2024
Beck drove Georgia back to the Alabama 20-yard line with under a minute to play, but the Bulldogs’ last chance ended when he threw his third interception of the night, hauled in by freshman cornerback Zabien Brown in the end zone.
With former Alabama coach Nick Saban in the stadium as part of his role with ESPN, Kalen DeBoer’s Crimson Tide had Kirby Smart and the Georgia defense stunned in the first half. Georgia faced a 21-point deficit in the first quarter for the first time since a 35-7 loss to South Carolina in 2012. Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe didn’t throw an incompletion until there were just under four minutes left in the second quarter. But everything flipped in the final 30 minutes, and the Crimson Tide had to produce a few moments of individual brilliance to escape.
Below, takeaways from a wild night from Kennington Smith III, Seth Emerson, Joe Rexrode and Nick Baumgardner.
It’s time to consider Alabama a title contender
The College Football Playoff implications of this game were a subject of debate entering Saturday night: How much would this game matter in the grand scheme of things? In some ways it remains to be seen, as both teams will remain a part of the conversation, but another conversation that needs to be had is Alabama’s place among college football’s front-line contenders. To this point it’s been Georgia, Texas, Ohio State and everyone else. Now it’s time to elevate Alabama into that group.
Alabama entered Saturday with an average margin of victory of 40.3 points, but it came with questions — about the level of opponent, about the young secondary and about how DeBoer would handle his first major game at Alabama. All of those questions and more were answered on Saturday.
Backs against the wall, Alabama turned to Milroe and Ryan Williams, whose immediate answer will go down as a legendary moment. It wasn’t a complete performance, but it was an impressive win. And now, the rest of the schedule feels extremely manageable.
The Tennessee game looms large, but the other marquee games don’t feel as daunting today as they did in the preseason. LSU hasn’t lived up to its initial preseason ranking, nor has Oklahoma or Missouri, and Auburn is spiraling after another loss on Saturday. There’s a long road ahead, and Saturday’s performance was not perfect, but Alabama’s season trajectory feels different now.
One of the biggest reasons is Milroe, who improved to 10-0 against the SEC as a starting quarterback with Saturday’s win. It was one of his best performances given the opponent and the moment: an SEC opener with a new head coach as a home underdog. He responded with over 400 total yards (374 passing, 117 rushing) and four total touchdowns, none bigger than the bomb to Williams.
As the season enters October, the Heisman Trophy race will start becoming regular discourse. Milroe solidified his place in that conversation on Saturday. — Smith
GO DEEPER
Alabama is Kalen DeBoer’s program now, and it’s not going away
How should Georgia feel about this loss?
The story of this game from Georgia’s perspective: From stunned embarrassment to stunned excitement to probably not sure exactly how to feel. A loss is a loss, right, especially to Alabama?
It ended with a Beck interception, and turnovers were part of the reason Georgia had to put together an epic comeback.
But this game was going to be an embarrassment to the program. It turned out to be another classic in the annals of this series. Another painful loss for Georgia, but not an embarrassment. A testament to Kirby Smart‘s coaching, the resilience of Beck and his teammates.
It was still a loss. But by coming back, the Bulldogs turned the narrative in ways that could turn out to be very important down the line. — Emerson
GO DEEPER
How should Georgia feel about that loss to Alabama? Conflicted
How the Crimson Tide got rolling
The first half felt like the peak of what Alabama’s talent in a DeBoer offense could look like. Alabama marched down the field on the opening possession, its only obstacle being three self-inflicted penalties, and found the end zone in eight plays. Milroe accounted for all 70 yards, a mix of run and pass, which set the tone as the quarterback played the best half of his career: 13 for 15 passing, over 10 yards per rush and three touchdowns. It was impressive to watch the dominance and jarring to watch the Georgia defense seem helpless for the first time in as long as anyone can remember.
Above all, the most surprising element was that Alabama, the program with a lot of new faces and a new coaching staff, was the more composed team coming out of the tunnel by a large margin. The moment didn’t seem too big for the Crimson Tide in the first half, while Georgia crumbled under the pressure and the energy inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. — Smith
Georgia D has a long night
The Bulldogs’ defense firmed up after the initial onslaught, but that onslaught was the story.
Georgia’s defense was outplayed and outschemed in the first half. Mostly it was just out-quarterbacked, as Milroe played a nearly perfect game, always making the right decision on when to run, when to throw, and where to run and throw. He looked like the fastest player on the field, but also the smartest.
But the Bulldogs’ strategy on Milroe also backfired. After using a spy to guard his running ability in last year’s SEC championship, they eschewed that in favor of sending pressure. Milroe made them pay, whether it was with passes to spots vacated by blitzes or by outrunning the pressure.
And then there was Williams’ acrobatic touchdown catch-and-run, in which he outjumped one Georgia defensive back and ran him into his teammate as he cut back and streaked to the end zone. — Emerson
Scouting Milroe and Beck
Saturday was a weird one for quarterbacks, but Alabama’s Jalen Milroe and Georgia’s Carson Beck showed why they’re different during Saturday night’s thriller in Tuscaloosa.
Alabama punched the Bulldogs in the face on its opening possession. Georgia responded by missing deep shots on its first offensive series. By the time everyone sat down, it was 14-0 Tide. Beck is not used to playing from behind like that. No one at Georgia is, not against a team as talented as Alabama. He was clearly shook, and it took him about a half to settle down. That’s concerning. But he did settle down.
Beck started the game 5 of 15 and still nearly pulled a rabbit out of his hat, finishing with 439 yards on 50 attempts. The fact that this three-pick night was the first multi-interception game of Beck’s career (19 starts) speaks to his consistency and to the job Alabama’s defense did getting to him.
Milroe, meanwhile, gets my vote right now for college football’s most improved player. He can still be a streaky player, but you can see Alabama adding more to his plate each week, which is improving Milroe’s feel as an intermediate passer and general processor. In a draft year where no one has grabbed the QB1 race by the shirt, a guy like Milroe might be growing on scouts. We need to see more, though, as his work from the pocket still isn’t quite clean enough on a throw-to-throw basis. Neither was his poise at the line of scrimmage late in the fourth quarter, as Alabama’s offense seemed to be in hurry-up when it should’ve been killing clock. — Baumgardner
GO DEEPER
Can Jalen Milroe be the next Jalen Hurts? Alabama QB rising in NFL Draft picture
Three SEC teams stand above the rest after a wild, surprising day
Georgia’s struggles against Kentucky weren’t an aberration. They were an indication of serious issues, issues that went full-blown as Alabama raced to a 28-0 lead on the Bulldogs. Issues that turned to resolve and the brief possibility of a historic comeback win. In the end, be impressed with Georgia’s fight, but understand: Alabama’s quick strike to reclaim victory leaves three teams as the early favorites in the SEC race.
That’s because Georgia’s schedule still has Texas, Tennessee and Ole Miss on it. And because Ole Miss drops from the favorites list with its 20-17 home upset loss to Kentucky. That list consists of Alabama, Texas and Tennessee. We’ll find out more when Alabama visits Tennessee on Oct. 19. We will not find out how Texas compares because the Longhorns play neither of those teams. We found out today that Ole Miss fattening up on weak foes could not help Lane Kiffin’s team block the first legitimate defensive front it saw. The Rebels and Bulldogs face each other Nov. 9 in Oxford.
Plenty of games and other teams (Missouri? Texas A&M?) will impact the race, but we might be headed for Texas in Atlanta against the Bama-Tennessee winner. — Rexrode
GO DEEPER
Vannini: Alabama-Georgia didn’t have stakes because of the CFP? Think again
(Photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
