TUSCALOOSA — Georgia staged an improbable comeback against Alabama on Saturday night, but the result was heartbreakingly familiar.
The No. 4-ranked Crimson Tide held on for a 41-34 victory over the No. 2-ranked Bulldogs when Carson Beck’s pass for Miami transfer Colbie Young was intercepted by Alabama true freshman cornerback Zabien Brown in the end zone with 43 seconds left.
Alabama (4-0, 1-0 SEC) dominated the first half, scoring touchdowns on its first four possessions against a UGA defense that hadn’t allowed a touchdown in its first three games this season.
By halftime, Alabama was up 30-7 and Georgia (3-1, 1-1) was all but declared dead.
Even Kirby Smart admitted his Bulldogs had no answers to that point for Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe, who finished 27-of-33 passing for 374 yards with two touchdowns and an interception passing, and 117 yards and two touchdowns rushing on 16 carries.
“We had no answer for (Jalen) Milroe, he’s a great athlete, phenomenal athlete, we’ve struggled to tackle him, we don’t have the edges,” Smart said at halftime, spreading the blame.
“They’ve done a really good job of throwing with him out of empty (-set formations), and that’s been new.”
The second half, however, was a decidedly different story with Carson Beck (27 of 50, 439 yards, 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions) coming to life and nearly overcoming a fumble and safety he had accounted for in the loss.
A Bulldogs’ team that was seemingly playing for pride found itself playing for a win in the final minutes, converting 5 of 5 on fourth down attempts in the second half.
Georgia gutted out a 15-play third-quarter touchdown drive that featured three fourth-down conversions to get the momentum going.
The Bulldogs followed that up with back-to-back touchdown drives; Lawson Luckie capping the first with an 8-yard touchdown catch, and then it was a 3-yard Dillon Bell run cutting the lead to 33-28 with 5:39 left.
The Georgia defense, which hadn’t allowed an Alabama touchdown since the fifth play of the second quarter, held strong, getting the ball back to Beck with
The concern growing among the partisan Alabama crowd proved warranted when Beck hit Bell with a 67-yard touchdown pass to give the Bulldogs a 34-33 lead with 2:31 left.
The lead proved short-lived, as Milroe struck back on the next offensive play, hitting Ryan Williams (6 catches, 177 yards) with a 75-yard touchdown pass, and then converting a 2-point conversion pass to make it 41-34.
Georgia’s final drive started from its own 25 with 2:18 left on the clock and the Bulldogs ran nine plays to get the ball to the Tide’s 34 — including a fourth-and-2 conversion — before Beck’s pass was picked off, enabling Alabama to run out the clock.
The Bulldogs were previously winners of 42 straight regular-season games, 29 consecutive SEC regular-season wins, 16 in a row in opponents’ stadiums and 21 consecutive when Smart had more than a week to prepare for a game.
