With its season in the balance, No. 13 Alabama had quite a response on Saturday.
The Crimson Tide are still very much a force in the national
race.
Jake Coker ran the offense to perfection, the
defense turned in a dominating performance, and Alabama even got a touchdown
from its special teams in a 38-10 rout of No. 8 Georgia.
Alabama (4-1, 1-1 SEC) jumped ahead 24-3 by halftime and iced
the victory on Georgia's first offensive play of the second half. Eddie Jackson intercepted a pass from the Bulldogs'
second quarterback, Brice Ramsey, and
returned it 50 yards for a touchdown.
After a discouraging, five-turnover loss to Ole Miss in their
SEC opener two weeks ago, the Tide looked more like themselves on a rainy day
between the hedges.
"I told them before the game that the plan we had for them,
ordinary men couldn't go out there and get it done," said coach Nick
Saban, whose team avoided its first 0-2 start in the SEC since 1990. "We
needed them to be extraordinary."
They were.
And Saban was about as close to gleeful as he can get.
"I know they've been criticized a lot, but I thought we
played an outstanding game today, every part of the game," he said.
Indeed, the Tide scored touchdowns on offense, defense and in
the kicking game.
Coker, with an assist from Lane Kiffin's play calling, completed
11-of-16 for 190 yards, passed for one touchdown and ran for another. Derrick Henry rushed for 148 yards and scored on a
30-yard run that put Alabama ahead to stay midway through the second quarter.
"Ever since I was little, I've dreamed of beating Georgia
and all those good schools," said Coker, a transfer from Florida State in
his first season as the Tide's starter. "This is pretty sweet."
Georgia (4-1, 2-1) yanked starting quarterback Greyson Lambert late in the first half, but it didn't
matter. He went back in after Ramsey threw his second interception.
"Their defense made plays and covered our guys well,"
Lambert said. "This just wasn't our day."
After completing 33 of 35 passes in the previous two games
against South Carolina and FCS opponent Southern, Lambert was 10-of-24 for 86
yards and an interception on his final throw. Ramsey was even worse, 1-of-6 for
20 yards, leaving Georgia with a huge question mark at the most prominent
position on the field.
"We've got to re-evaluate everything," coach Mark
Richt said. "The quarterback play. Everything."
With the game tied at 3, Henry burst untouched through the
middle of the line to cap an eight-play, 76-yard drive. Little did the home
crowd of more than 91,000 realize, the Tide were just getting warmed up.
Minkah Fitzpatrick darted through the line to block a
Georgia punt, the ball bouncing right into his arms at the 1 for an easy
touchdown. After Georgia went three-and-out for the sixth time in its first
seven possessions, offensive coordinator Kiffin went for the jugular on his
team's next play.
Coker sucked in the defense with play-action and launched a
45-yard touchdown to Calvin Ridley,
hitting the freshman receiver right in stride down the middle of the field.
For good measure, Coker added a 1-yard run for a touchdown that
stretched Alabama's lead to 38-3 less than five minutes into the second half.
The steady rain really started coming down after halftime.
Midway through the third quarter, Georgia fans were streaming toward the exits
on a dreary evening that thoroughly matched the mood of the red-clad crowd.
The game was a virtual repeat of Alabama's last visit to Sanford
Stadium in 2008, when a Georgia team that started the season ranked No. 1 came
out wearing black jerseys as part of a "blackout," only to fall
behind 31-0 at halftime. The 41-30 victory signaled the start of Saban's
dominating run in Tuscaloosa, which has resulted in three conference titles and
three national championships.
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