No. 4 Alabama hosts No. 2 Georgia Saturday evening in one of the most important games of the 2024 college football season. This seismic clash will go a long way toward determining not only the final SEC standings, but the College Football Playoff race.
That tends to happen when the Crimson Tide and the Bulldogs take the field against one another. This marks the two powers’ first regular-season matchup since 2020, though they have played plenty in the interim. From 2021-23, Alabama and Georgia faced off twice in the SEC Championship Game and once in the College Football Playoff National Championship.
Alabama won the conference both times — including last season’s clash that sent the Crimson Tide to the playoff — but Georgia gained the advantage in 2022 with the national title on the line. That was the first time the Bulldogs had bested Alabama since 2007. The Crimson Tide hold an 8-1 advantage in matchups since.
But that record came with coach Nick Saban patrolling the sidelines. Georgia coach Kirby Smart was 1-5 against his former boss. Now that Saban’s retired and Kalen DeBoer has stepped up in Tuscaloosa, Saturday’s game will certainly feature a different feel.
Here are three keys for Alabama if it wants to give DeBoer a cornerstone win early in his tenure.
1. Unleash Jalen Milroe
Milroe is quietly putting together a phenomenal season under DeBoer and his staff, and Saturday could serve as a serious coming-out party for the Crimson Tide star. Alabama will certainly need him to be at his best if it wants to come away with a win. The good news is that Milroe has shown steady improvement and gives his team advantages against Georgia’s defense.
A huge part of Milroe’s game is his ability to make plays with his legs. He’s one of the best rushing quarterbacks in college football, with 156 yards on the ground through three games. Milroe has posted two rushing touchdowns in each of the past three games, which means he has already reached half of his rushing touchdown total from the 2023 season.
Though it’s a small sample size, Georgia’s defense has been susceptible to dual-threat quarterbacks this season. Kentucky’s Brock Vandagriff rushed nine times for 70 yards, adjusting for lost sack yardage, against the Bulldogs a couple of weeks ago. That comes out to around 7.8 yards per carry, including a long rush of 17 yards.
Georgia will certainly have Milroe’s rushing ability highlighted, circled, and underlined on the scouting report, but that doesn’t mean Alabama should toss it out of the playbook. There are plenty of creative ways to get him involved in the run game that should keep the defense honest, and his creditability as a runner can create advantages elsewhere on the field.
2. Shut down the run game
Georgia’s running back stable is deep, even with No. 2 option Roderick Robinson II expected to miss the game due to injury. The Bulldogs have always built themselves around the run game offensively, using their ground-and-pound approach to open up the rest of the scheme.
So it tracks that Georgia’s offense has struggled this year when it hasn’t been able to run the ball consistently. In the first half of Georgia’s season opener against Clemson, the Bulldogs averaged less than three yards per carry and managed only six points, courtesy of two field goals. Granted, that was without starting running back Trevor Etienne, who missed the game with a suspension.
Freshman Nate Frazier filled the void in the second half, bursting through with seven carries for 54 yards and one touchdown. The Bulldogs were able to move the ball more effectively and scored a touchdown on all but one of their five non-game-ending drives in the second half.
It was a similar story against Kentucky. Etienne, fully returned and integrated into Georgia’s offense, finished with a respectable 79 yards rushing, but 17 of them came on one carry. Take that away, and he only managed 3.4 yards per carry on 18 attempts. No other Georgia running back managed more than five yards, and the Bulldogs averaged fewer than four yards per carry as a team.
Georgia eked out a 13-12 win, its lowest point total since a 10-3 victory against Clemson on Sept. 2, 2022. All this to say, stopping the run game is crucial for Alabama in halting Georgia’s offense.
3. Play ball control
This goes hand in hand with stopping Georgia’s ground attack, but Alabama will have to do some work here as well. DeBoer’s offensive scheme is predicated on downfield shots and generating explosive plays, and the Crimson Tide shouldn’t stray from that Saturday.
Building an entire game plan around that would play into Georgia’s strength, though. The Bulldogs have allowed just two offensive plays of 20 or more yards. They’re holding opponents to a paltry 3.5 yards per play against a schedule that includes wins over one preseason top-15 team and an SEC opponent.
Georgia’s secondary is filled with ballhawks — headlined by safety Malaki Starks — and the linebackers are athletic enough to run with just about anyone on the field. That said, the Bulldogs have been surprisingly susceptible to opposing rushing attacks.
Georgia is allowing 110.7 yards per game, which isn’t bad at all, but it ranks 42nd nationally and ninth in the SEC, behind teams like Arkansas and South Carolina. And Georgia has yet to see a backfield as talented as Alabama’s.
Running backs Jam Miller and Justice Haynes are averaging over nine yards per carry and have only lost eight yards between them. As outlined above, Milroe is a huge threat to get involved in the run game, and Alabama’s offensive line is moving opponents off the ball effectively this year.
Kentucky provided a nice model for Alabama. The Wildcats sustained drives, holding the ball for 35:02 of the game compared to Georgia’s 24:58. Kentucky also nearly doubled Georgia’s first downs, crossing the marker 23 times.
Again, Georgia only managed 13 points with its limited opportunities. That vaunted defense did enough to scratch out a win, but Alabama should have more weapons than Kentucky did and can generate explosive plays if it lulls the Bulldogs to sleep.
