'Enough is enough': Why beating Alabama meant so much to Georgia football
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ATLANTA —Kirby Smart didn’t try to hide what beating Alabama meant for Georgia football and its fans after the Bulldogs had so often gone up against the Crimson Tide and left with pain and suffering.
“You know what? These fans have been through a lot of heartache and agony in these games,” the Bulldogs coach said from a stage set up on the Mercedes-Benz Stadium field after their SEC Championship Game win Saturday Dec. 6. “But not tonight, baby, not tonight!”
No, the 28-7 Georgia win was a near-masterful performance not so much in the stat sheet, but in the way the Bulldogs handled the Crimson Tide in nearly every facet of the game.
“Man, to beat Alabama like this,” University of Georgia president Jere Morehead told the Athens Banner-Herald as he followed players towards a victorious Bulldogs locker room.
“Shoot, it’s lit in that locker room right now,” junior linebacker Raylen Wilson, who had five tackles, said after joining four other teammates in a room for postgame interviews.
Georgia’s most lopsided win over Alabama since 21-0 in 1976 came after losing nine of the last 10 against the Tide including all four of the previous SEC championship matchups.
“We went about this week knowing that enough is enough,” outside linebacker Quintavius Johnson said.
Said linebacker CJ Allen: “It feels great. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t something we thought about it coming into this game.”
Georgia’s only win against Alabama since 2007 before Saturday night was the 33-18 national championship win to end the 2021 season.
The Bulldogs won this time on the same field where second-and-26 gave Alabama a national title in 2017.
Georgia had lost to Alabama each of the last three seasons – in the SEC Championship Game in 2023, in 2024 in Tuscaloosa and this season in Athens, which snapped a 33-game home winning streak.
“It feels good, man” Wilson said. “I’ve lost to them boys for three years. Had to get one.”
Ten weeks earlier, Alabama won 24-21.
Alabama went 13 of 19 then on third downs. It was 3 of 13 on Saturday,.
This time the Tide were held 209 total yards, nearly 200 below their season average.
“They had some copycat blitzes from people that we’ve seen before,” said Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson who was 19-of-39 for 212 yards with a touchdown, an interception and was sacked three times. “We picked it up some. But I got to be better at just communicating in general, right?”
Allen was asked what the difference was
“It had nothing to do with them,” he said. “It was moreso us. We know who we are. We knew what we had to get better at. We knew what we had to work on.”
Added Wilson: “It means everything to finally win against them.”
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: SEC championship extra sweet for Georgia football coming vs Alabama
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