Joel Klatt gives bold score prediction for Alabama football vs Georgia

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Fox Sports lead college football analyst Joel Klatt believes the Georgia Bulldogs are the better team heading into Saturday’s top 10 showdown in the SEC Championship Game with the Alabama Crimson Tide.

The color commentator on Fox’s “Big Noon Saturday” games made those comments and more on the Thursday edition of his video podcast, which is shown in syndication on FS1.

Alabama (10-2 overall, 7-1 SEC) enters the game No. 10 in the US LBM Coaches Poll and No. 9 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, unveiled on Tuesday. Georgia (11-1, 7-1) is No. 3 in both the polls and CFP rankings.

Klatt began his preview of Alabama-Georgia in the 34th all-time SEC Championship Game by noting that Georgia coach Kirby Smart is 1-7 in his career against Alabama, and 0-2 against Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer.

The Crimson Tide defeated the Bulldogs, 24-21, in the regular season on Sept. 27 at Sanford Stadium, when Alabama snapped a 33-game Georgia winning streak in Athens.

“We thought Kirby might have just had a mentor problem, (couldn’t) beat Nick Saban” Klatt said. “But it’s turned into an Alabama problem for Georgia.”

Joel Klatt wonders which Georgia team will show up vs Alabama in SEC championship

Which Georgia team will show up Saturday against Alabama?

Klatt said:

“We’ve seen Georgia play really well, particularly in the second half against Texas. We’ve also seen this (type of) sleepwalk, like that entire game against Georgia Tech where they were really anemic on offense. So, which Georgia do we get? Do we get the Georgia from the previous two Bama matchups that didn’t show up in the first half and then played great in the second half? I’m interested in that dynamic.”

Alabama has jumped ahead early in each of the past against Georgia. The Crimson Tide took a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter back in Week 5 in Athens. They also went up 28-0 early in the second quarter in last year’s matchup at Bryant-Denny Stadium, a 41-34 Alabama win.

“What do we get from the Georgia pass rush? That’s a question. It’s been underwhelming for big sections of the season, and then when they needed it most against Arch Manning and Texas, boom. They showed up, and they were dominant in that game rushing the passer.” –Joel Klatt, Fox Sports.

Despite Alabama rushing for 158 yards in last week’s 27-20 win over Auburn, Klatt said the Crimson Tide’s running game still scares him against a Georgia run defense that ranks sixth nationally. The Bulldogs have allowed an average of 86.1 yards per game on the ground this season.

Joel Klatt says Alabama football QB Ty Simpson no longer a ‘world-beater’

Klatt believes the Crimson Tide are a one-dimensional team and that quarterback Ty Simpson has largely struggled despite throwing the game-winning touchdown to Isaiah Horton on fourth-and-2 from the Auburn 6-yard line with 3:50 to play in last week’s Iron Bowl showdown.

“They are a one-dimensional team throwing the ball,” Klatt said of Alabama. “And the problem is that there have been moments when even the passing game has really struggled. We’ve seen Alabama’s passing game, in the second halves of games in the last five of these SEC matchups, really fall off.”

Added Klatt:

“Ty Simpson is not the world-beater that he was in the first half. The (first Alabama-Georgia game) was an example of that. He has been held, speaking of Simpson, under 100 passing yards in the second half of their last five SEC games. Well, that’s a problem, in particular when Georgia is such a great second-half team. It calls into question how big a game can Bama get in the first half? They got a big enough lead in the first matchup. Can they do that again in this SEC Championship Game?”

Klatt, for one, doesn’t think so.

Alabama football vs. Georgia: Joel Klatt’s final score prediction for 2025 SEC championship

Klatt said of Saturday’s Alabama-Georgia rematch:

“I trust Georgia in a big game. Georgia is favored by only 2 1/2. I believe that’s because of the 1-7 record that Kirby has against Alabama, and yet this is the better team. Bama is one-dimensional.”

Because of that, Klatt likes the Bulldogs to win — by two scores.

“I think that Georgia wins this game, 27-17, and they win the SEC championship.”

Joel Klatt’s record when picking Alabama football games in 2025

Klatt is 4-4 when picking Alabama games this season. He predicted the Crimson Tide would beat Florida State in Week 1, and he picked both Georgia and Missouri to beat Alabama in later weeks. Klatt also took the Tide to beat Oklahoma.

He correctly predicted that Alabama would beat Vanderbilt, Tennessee LSU, and Auburn.

TV channel, announcers for Alabama vs. Georgia

Kickoff for Alabama-Georgia is 3 p.m. CT Saturday. The game will be televised on ABC. Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit will have the call of the game from the broadcast booth at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Holly Rowe and Laura Rutledge will report from the sidelines.

Alabama football schedule 2025

Here’s a game by game look at Alabama’s 2025 schedule.

  • Aug. 30: at Florida State (L, 31-17)
  • Sept. 6: vs. UL Monroe (W, 73-0)
  • Sept. 13: vs. Wisconsin (W, 38-14)
  • Sept. 27: at Georgia (W, 24-21)
  • Oct. 4: vs. Vanderbilt (W, 30-14)
  • Oct. 11: at Missouri (W, 27-24)
  • Oct. 18: vs. Tennessee (W, 37-20)
  • Oct. 25: at South Carolina (W, 29-22)
  • Nov. 8: vs. LSU (W, 20-9)
  • Nov. 15: vs. Oklahoma (L, 23-21)
  • Nov. 22 vs. Eastern Illinois (W, 56-0)
  • Nov. 29: at Auburn (W, 27-20)
  • Dec. 6: vs. Georgia (SEC Championship Game), 3 p.m.

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This article originally appeared on Roll Tide Wire: Alabama football vs Georgia final score prediction from Joel Klatt

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