Georgia falls to Alabama 27-24 in SEC Championship, snapping 29-game win streak

ATLANTA, Ga. — Georgia saw its 29-game win streak snapped Saturday night as it fell to Alabama 27-24 inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Bulldogs fall to 12-1 on the season and 0-4 against the Crimson Tide in Mercedes Benz Stadium.

UGA scored 17 points in the second half to Alabama’s 10, but it was too little, too late as the Bulldogs were blanked in the first half after scoring on their first possession.

Carson Beck completed 21 of 29 passes for 243 yards. He had just 12 attempts in the first half. Georgia rushed for just 78 yards as a team on 31 carries with all three touchdowns scored on the ground. Brock Bowers led all UGA receivers with five catches for 53 yards.

Georgia couldn’t have gotten off to a better start. Alabama got the ball first and went three and out, allowing the offense to go to work. The Bulldogs took the ball at their own 24-yard line and marched 83 yards on eight plays with Milton finding a hole off right tackle for a 17-yard touchdown.

That would be the Bulldogs’ only score of the first half. Alabama went three and out on its second possession but when the Bulldogs lost three yards on its ensuing possession, the Crimson Tide started a 17-0 run to end the first half.

The Crimson Tide got three points on its third possession and Georgia had no response. They reached the end zone on the next possession with Jalen Milroe finding Jah Miller for on a 28-yard touchdown. The Will Reichard PAT gave Alabama a 10-7 lead.

Georgia drove it to the Alabama 19-yard line on its next possession, but it went into reverse from there, losing two yards on a Milton run then five more when Beck was sacked on third down. When the Bulldogs lined up for a field goal, the were flagged for a false start, causing Peyton Woodring to try a 50-yard field goal. It caromed off the right upright to keep the score 10-7.

The ensuing Alabama possession would end like the one before it, with a touchdown. The Crimson Tide faced a 3rd and 21 on the drive but Milroe found Amari Niblack for a 17 yards to bring up 4th and 4. Instead of kicking the field goal, Nick Saban decided to go for it and he was rewarded when Milroe found Isaiah Bond for a 22-yard gain. Alabama reached the end zone two plays later when Jermaine Burton caught a 15-yard touchdown. Reichard’s PAT pushed Alabama’s lead to 17-7 and that’s how the half would end.

The two teams traded punts to start the second half but Georgia got back on the board with its second possession. It was a four-play drive where Beck hit Arian Smith for a 51-yard gain to get deep into Alabama territory. The Bulldogs only mustered three more yards and Woodring came on to hit a 34-yard field goal to cut the lead to seven.

Alabama moved into scoring position on its next possession thanks to a third-down conversion and a hose-collar penalty, but a third-down sack by Jalon Walker, his second of the game, knocked the Tide out of field goal range.

Georgia got the ball back at its own five-yard line and earned a first down before committing the game’s first turnover. Beck tried to flip the ball to Dillon Bell on an end around but it was mishandled and it fell to the turf. Alabama linebacker Trezman Marshall, a transfer from UGA, recovered it at the UGA 11-yard line.

The Crimson Tide wasn’t able to turn the extremely short field into seven points, though. They went three and out as Georgia broke up a pass on third down and Reichard hit a 28-yard field goal to reestablish a two-score lead at 20-10.

The lead was cut to three in the fourth quarter when the Bulldogs got help from a 28-yard punt return from Anthony Evans that set the offense up at the Alabama 35-yard line. Georgia went on to score its second touchdown of the day on a quarterback sneak from Beck and Woodring’s PAT cut the lead to 20-17.

But Alabama’s offense found life on its next possession. The Crimson Tide had just 20 yards in the second half before it took over on the ensuing kickoff and it marched 75 yards in nine plays, taking about five minutes off the clock and punching it into the end zone with a one-yard run from Roydell Williams. The Reichard PAT extended the lead back out to 10 at 27-17.

Kirby Smart and company did not go away. The Bulldogs put together a 75-yard drive with Milton scoring from one yard out to cut the lead back to three points at 27-24. But Milroe proved to be too much as he ripped off a 30-yard gain to chew clock and a 12-yard gain to essentially put the game away. Alabama kneeled on it from there to win the 2023 SEC Championship game.

The Bulldogs will find out about their postseason fate on Sunday. The College Football Playoff selection show begins at Noon ET and Georgia is a long shot to get in the four-team field, likely headed to a New Year’s Six Bowl.