Georgia hopes to bye in first round of College Football Playoffs after dominating Alabama in SEC championship game

Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton got off to a much faster start against Alabama in Saturday’s SEC Championship than he did last week against in-state rival Georgia Tech.

Stockton finished the Bulldogs’ dominant 28-7 victory over the Crimson Tide at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta with three touchdowns to secure Georgia’s spot in the College Football Playoff (CFP).

While winning the SEC title put Georgia (12-1) in position for a first-round playoff berth, Alabama (10-3) suffered its third loss of the year. The Tide is now in danger of missing out on one of the CFB’s 12 coveted playoff spots.

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Head coach Kirby Smart and Georgia’s victory also ended Alabama’s dominance in the schools’ recent head-to-head matchups.

The Tide had won each of the last four meetings in the SEC Championship Game, and Smart was just 1-7 overall against Alabama. Prior to Saturday, the 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship marked Smart’s only victory against the neighboring state school.

Smart has now coached Georgia to four conference titles.

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The Crimson Tide were believed to be in good shape when they moved up to ninth in last week’s CFP standings, but the lopsided loss to the Bulldogs renewed concerns that Alabama could miss the playoffs for the second consecutive season under head coach Kalen DeBoer.

After the loss, DeBoer advocated for the ninth-ranked Crimson Tide not to be left out of CFP contention.

“I think if you look at the games we played throughout the season, but if you really look at this game, I mean, it was a 14-point game with seven and a half minutes left, and we had the ball,” DeBoer said. “If you look at the things that didn’t go well, we gave them four short fields. And again, I don’t want to take anything away from what Georgia did.

“The field position battle is part of it. But we gave them four short fields. I mean, that’s a testament to our defense being resilient.”

Late in the first quarter, Daylen Everette’s interception of Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson’s pass deflected by KJ Bolden gave the Bulldogs the ball near midfield. Stockton’s 1-yard touchdown pass to Dillon Bell gave Georgia a 14-0 lead.

A block by London Humphreys helped Nate Frazier easily score on a 9-yard run to cap Georgia’s first possession of the second half, extending the lead to three touchdowns.

Alabama recorded the biggest comeback in SEC Championship Game history when it beat Georgia 35-28 in 2018 after trailing by 14 points.

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The latest CFP rankings and first-round matchups will be released Sunday.

The News contributed to this report.

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