As I watched the 2025 SEC Championship Game, Georgia leading 21-0 with 7 minutes left in the fourth quarter something became very evident to me regarding University of Alabama and Head Coach Kalen DeBoer. No matter who they hire to fill the Head Coaching role at Alabama they will NEVER fill the shoes of the Greatest Head Coach in College Football History and I feel like that could be problematic for the future of the Alabama football program.
Former Alabama Head Football Coach Nick Saban (widely regarded as the Greatest College Head Coach of all time) posted a record of 206-29 (.877), 16-7 in bowl games at Alabama, and has a lifetime record of 297-71 (.807) with a 19-12 (.612) playoff record. Coach Saban has had the privilege of coaching some of the most dominate teams in SEC history and turned Alabama into a seemingly unstoppable force. Going from Mark Ingram to Derrick Henry pounding the ball between the tackles, to Julio Jones and De’Vonta Smith on the offensive side of the ball and from Marcell Dareus at the Zero or Two- Technique, Will Anderson Jr. on the EDGE and everyone in between that time were BALLERS… One thing is for sure, that team and those coaches had a kill or be killed mentality. Take no prisoners and flying to the ball like their hair was on fire. Make the defenders PAY for trying to tackle you by running through the defenders face for the extra yards. Now it seems like they are just going through the motions. That’s not Alabama Football.
Georgia won the game 28-7 avenging their loss to Alabama earlier on this season.
The Bulldogs defense held Alabama to under 100 yards of total offense, forced a turnover, and blocked a punt that certainly helped their 14-point lead at halftime.
After the half, the Bulldogs made a HUGE defensive stand forcing a three-and-out turning that into points with another touchdown to extend the lead 21-0. On the insuing drive, the Crimson Tide were once again held to a three-and-out as they just could not figure it out on third down. On the possession drive, a hands-to-the-face penalty put the Dawgs at third and long, killing the drive.
After three quarters of dominate football for the Bulldogs, Alabama had just 15 minutes to cut the deficit and pull off what would be a historic SEC Championship comeback. Alabama capitalized on multiple Bulldog mistakes cutting the lead to 14.
Alabama would get another opportunity to cut into the lead as the Bulldogs came up empty on another drive although it wouldn’t amount to anything. They faced an early fourth down deep on their own end of the field which resulted in a turnover on downs.
Georgia took over with the ball on Alabama’s 12-yard line and capitalized on the great field position to subsequentially kill any hopes Alabama had to come back.
As for Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs, business as usual. They have now won back-to-back SEC Championships and are looking primed to make another deep run in the College Football Playoffs.
Gunner Stockton was absolutely superb, going 20-26 for 156 yards, 3 TDs along with 39 yards on the ground. As far as the run game is concerned it seemed like Kirby Smart was keeping fresh legs in the backfield all night having four rushers for over 20 yards with Nate Frazier (52 Rushing Yards) and Gunner Stockton (39 Rushing Yards) leading the team with 13 rush attempts each and a total of 91 yards on the ground.
Alabama defensive line served as turnstiles for the Georgia ball carriers as Georgia racked up 141 yards on the ground while the Alabama offensive line mirrored the same techniques as they had a grand total of -3 Rushing yards total for the game. That is not a typo… an Alabama football team finished the SEC Championship Game with -3 total Rushing Yards.
After this performance I feel like there are more questions about Alabama moving forward than they had prior to hiring Coach Kalen DeBoer and I feel like they need to be answered QUICKLY.
Cool!
You bet it’s cool!
yes