What went wrong in Georgia football’s loss to Alabama

Alabama doesn’t need any help defeating opponents.

Georgia felt generous on Saturday night, though, and gave the Crimson Tide plenty of aid with a bundle of mistakes in the second half of a 41-24 loss.

Despite an interception on the initial drive from junior quarterback Stetson Bennett, the Bulldogs played fairly clean in the first half. The pick came on a deflection, the offense rolled up 24 points and the defense, for the most part, kept the explosive Crimson Tide offense in check.

Still, one play stuck out to Georgia head coach Kirby Smart after the game.

On Alabama’s second touchdown, junior quarterback Mac Jones bluffed a bubble screen to junior receiver Jaylen Waddle and lofted a 17-yard touchdown pass to senior DeVonta Smith to tie the game at 17.

“It’s actually a play we repped and gave it up for a touchdown to the scout team,” Smart said. “Then they beat us with it.”

Even after that mistake, Georgia led 24-20 late in the third quarter. That’s when things truly started to unravel.

Facing a second-and-9 at its own 10-yard line, Alabama lined up with three receivers to the left side before employing some motion. A communication error helped Waddle get a step on junior corner Tyson Campbell, who then fell down as Waddle hauled in the pass and sped to the end zone for a go-ahead 90-yard touchdown.

Georgia’s next drive saw the Bulldogs move down the field before another Bennett interception, this one off the hands of freshman receiver Jermaine Burton. Smart said he thought Burton could have come up with it, but the throw still went into plenty of traffic.

After Alabama turned that into another score and a 10-point lead, Georgia still had a chance. But on the first play of the fourth quarter, Bennett rolled out to his right and flung a wild pass across his body into the middle of the field. The Crimson Tide picked it off and mounted a drive that ended in a touchdown, effectively ending Georgia’s chances.

“You can’t do that,” Smart said. “You’ve got to step up in the pocket in our league and be able to make throws down the field, and he’s shown he can do that. He just didn’t do it on that play.”

Bennett, however, came down a bit harder on himself for his decision to make the pass, calling it a “stupid” mistake.

“Don’t throw it across my body, which I know that,” Bennett said. “I’ve known that from the time I was 4 years old. Just a boneheaded play; just got to learn from it.”

In other games, Bennett has gotten away with some of those decisions. Smart noted a deep pass into a Cover 2 defense against Tennessee that could have been an interception. There were some of those escapes Saturday night, but the Crimson Tide are too good of a team to gift them opportunities.

Speaking of gifts, there were three penalties accepted against the Georgia secondary in the second half. One, a pass interference call on junior corner Eric Stokes in the end zone, turned a potential Alabama field goal attempt into a touchdown and a 34-24 lead.

“At the end of the day, the pressure they put on you with their vertical passing game and their wideouts probably forces some of those penalties,” Smart said.

Make no mistake, Alabama is an extremely talented team that deserved to win on Saturday night. But as the Bulldogs return to Athens and look at the tape, they’ll see they made far too many mistakes to expect to top a championship-caliber team.

Alabama vs Georgia scoring summary

First Quarter

BAMA—Metchie 40 pass from M.Jones (Reichard kick), 13:16.

UGA—White 10 run (Podlesny kick), 1:53.

Second Quarter

UGA—Cook 82 pass from Bennett (Podlesny kick), 14:49.

BAMA—FG Reichard 33, 9:00.

UGA—FG Podlesny 50, 5:42.

BAMA—D.Smith 17 pass from M.Jones (Reichard kick), 3:06.

UGA—Burton 5 pass from Bennett (Podlesny kick), :23.

BAMA—FG Reichard 52, :00.

Third Quarter

BAMA—Waddle 90 pass from M.Jones (Reichard kick), 4:00.

BAMA—N.Harris 2 run (Reichard kick), :51.

Fourth Quarter

BAMA—D.Smith 13 pass from M.Jones (Reichard kick), 9:32

UGA Bama team stats

• First downs: Alabama 33-20
• Total yards: Alabama 564-414
• Time of possession: Alabama 33:59-26:01
• Turnovers lost: Georgia 3, Alabama 1

RUSHING—Georgia, White 10-57, Milton 6-44, Cook 5-16, McIntosh 2-12, Bennett 6-12, Burton 1-4. Alabama, N.Harris 31-152, B.Robinson 7-20, Waddle 1-(minus 2), (Team) 1-(minus 3), M.Jones 3-(minus 20).

PASSING—Georgia, Bennett 18-40-3-269. Alabama, M.Jones 24-32-1-417, (Team) 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING—Georgia, Pickens 5-53, Cook 4-101, Burton 4-58, K.Jackson 2-23, Rosemy-Jacksaint 1-18, McKitty 1-10, FitzPatrick 1-6. Alabama, D.Smith 11-167, Waddle 6-161, Metchie 3-50, Forristall 3-29, N.Harris 1-10.

MISSED FIELD GOALS—Georgia, Podlesny 35.

This story was originally published October 18, 2020 at 5:45 AM.