Georgia vs Alabama Recap: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

by Chito Chibuye

Dawgs OTL Writer/ UGA Alumnus

Here we are again. Another loss to the team from Tuscaloosa, and the worst part (like many of these matchups) is that we had every opportunity to come away with a win. It’s one thing to just get beat by a better team, it’s another to lose due to points left on the field, dropped passes, hurried plays, etc. The Silver lining, however, is that our season is far from over and Kirby isn’t going to let this team quit. Now that some time has passed, let’s attempt to be rational and talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly parts from Saturday.

The Good: Georgia’s Rushing Attack and Second-Half Defense

We talked about the run game being a major point of emphasis for this offense's success in this game. The result of the game was an L, but rushing for 227 yards against Bama is a W moving forward. In addition to that, Chauncey Bowens is RB1 until further notice in my opinion. #33 rushed for 119 yards on 12 carries and had a touchdown. To put that in perspective, he’s the last UGA RB to go for 100 yards since Kendall Milton did it against FSU in the 2023 Orange bowl (9-104-2TDs). He’s also the first back to do that against Alabama since Nick Chubb in 2015 (20-146-1TD) and Todd Gurley in the 2012 SECCG (23-122-2TDs). 2nd half adjustments in the secondary were crucial to getting UGA back in this game, and has always been a strength of this coaching staff. Georgia was unable to get to Ty Simpson with pressure and he made us pay for it in the first half. We began to dedicate more players to coverage and slowed the Tide offense to a screeching halt. Unfortunately, they had done just enough damage at that point to finish the job. No one wants to hear it right now, but we did enough to beat this team. If we get another chance we have to make it count.

The Bad: Georgia’s Pass Rush and Offensive Concerns

The defensive adjustments in the 2nd half were reassuring, but our obvious inability to produce pressure on a gettable Bama O-line is pretty concerning. Chris Cole claimed the lone sack on the night, but this defense is going to need someone else to step up in that department before any team is going to consider our pass rush a “threat”. Rushing offense overall was good, but there was not enough QB runs for Gunner in this game. He rushed 5 times for only 22 yards and despite seeing how effective it was for FSU’s QB in week one, I really feel like we left some opportunities on the table, especially during the hurry up on 4th & 1 with an edge player crashing down on Cash Jones like his life depended on it. Next on the list is Nate Frazier’s ball security. Simply put, you can have all the talent in the world, but if you can’t protect rock, you can’t play. Lastly, the lack of Noah Thomas usage is both annoying and inefficient to me. His tape at A&M says he’s really good, so why is he not involved in the offense? If he’s “not good” all of the sudden, why did you spend resources to bring him in? Make it make sense.

The Ugly: Costly Mistakes and Third Down Failures

Georgia’s defense could not get off the field to save their lives on Saturday night, and to make matters worse our offense couldn’t convert either. That is a sure-fire way to ensure that you do not win games at this level, and it starts with both of the coordinators whether we like it or not. Alabama converted 13/19 (68%) of their 3rd down tries, while UGA converted 2/8 (25%)… disgusting. The failed 4th down conversion is the play everyone is talking about, and for good reason. Kirby confessed afterwards that the strategy was to catch the defense off guard because it had worked before. I feel like whole situation was rushed. Gunner looked like he may have picked up the 1st down on the play before, and due diligence in that critical moment is to WAIT and see if the replay booth signals down. Secondly, rushing from one mistake into another (personnel) mistake at the goal line is malpractice. Cash Jones is not* a goal line back, as a coach you have to encourage Gunner to pull that off the read, or just take the 3 points. Hindsight is 20/20 to be fair, but do you trust your All-American kicker or your Freshman RG and RT?! The last point triggers me because I played linebacker, but there is no excuse for RBs and TEs out of the backfield to be crossing defenders' faces without any contact or collision! It happened over and over again, and ultimately was the play that Bama used to pick up the last first down to ice the game.

Georgia Football Outlook: Season Goals Still Intact

Although it feels like it sometimes, it’s not the end of season for this team and all of our goals are still intact. It just feels like we no longer do the things we did during that championship run. However, this is the new CFB (which is more like the NFL), and this is a young team who will get better with time. That’s the good, bad, and the ugly. There’s a lot of football left, and now it’s on to Kentucky.
Go Dawgs.