ATHENS – Another Georgia-Alabama matchup is set for Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
With its 42-35 win over Arkansas Saturday night in Tuscaloosa, the No. 2-ranked Crimson Tide (10-1, 6-1 SEC) clinched their spot in the SEC Championship game as Western Division champions. That sets up a collision with No. 1 Georgia, who already clinched the Eastern Division, of the nation’s top two teams on Dec. 4 in Atlanta (4 p.m., CBS).
It will be the third time the Bulldogs and Alabama have met in the conference title game (2012 and 2018) and the third time they’ve played each other in Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Crimson Tide have won six in a row over Georgia, including a 26-23 overtime victory in the 2017 College Football Playoff championship game on Jan. 8, 2018.
Both teams still have some work to do before their monumental matchup. Georgia (11-0, 8-0) finishes up its regular season on Saturday against Georgia Tech in Atlanta (noon, ABC). The Yellow Jackets (3-8) fell to Notre Dame 55-0 Saturday night in South Bend in one of the worst losses in school history.
Alabama heads to The Plains to finish out the regular season against Auburn in the annual Iron Bowl next Saturday. The Tigers will be the fourth opponent the Crimson Tide faces that Georgia also has played this season. The other three were Florida (AL 31-29; GA 34-7), Tennessee (52-24; 41-17) and Arkansas (42-35; 37-0). Viewed another way, Georgia defeated those opponents by an average score of 37.3 to 9, compared to Alabama’s 41.6 to 29.3.
First things first, though. The Alabama-Arkansas game hadn’t even started Saturday by the time Georgia’s 56-7 victory over Charleston Southern was concluded. But the Bulldogs already were talking about focusing only on the Yellow Jackets in the coming week.
“They talked after the game and wanted everybody locked in (on Tech),” coach Kirby Smart said the Bulldogs’ team leaders. “It takes a lot of pressure off me when they’re saying it. When they speak, people listen. So, I think they’ll handle that right. We got a lot of kids from the metro Atlanta area, they got an opportunity to go play in front of their home and their families, all those folks. It’s one of those hotbeds of recruiting for us, so I know they’ll be fired up for the opportunity.”
The Band Man
Senior defensive lineman Jordan Davis has expressed his admiration of and appreciation for Georgia’s Redcoat Marching Band. But he was taken aback when the band reciprocated those feelings.
After Saturday’s game -- which included the 6-foot-6, 335-pound Davis scoring his first collegiate touchdown as a running back -- the Redcoats invited Davis to the drum major’s ladder to lead the band in playing the school fight song. What Davis didn’t know was that Redcoats had more surprises for him.
They presented him with a plaque making him an “Honorary Redcoat,” and then gave him his own personal Redcoat uniform jacket -- sized to fit.
Davis was blown away.
“I have a couple friends on the band, and I always show my support and everything, and they show me love, too, (but) I didn’t know it was going to be to the fullest extent of that,” Davis said in a postgame interview. “I thought I was just going to go over there and maybe conduct and call it a day. But the moment when they called me an honorary member and handed me the plaque and handed me the coat was really special. It makes me feel great because they love me as much as I love them and I wish that they had more recognition. I wish that they had more love from Dawg Nation. They play every week, too. Every week, they’re there getting me hyped up, getting the crowd hyped up. So, it was only right that I be over there to show them love.”
Other than the one-yard touchdown plunge, it was a pretty quiet day for Davis on the field. For only the second time all season, he didn’t record a defensive stat. Then, again, he only played a few snaps in the first quarter before his day was done.
But Davis’ value to Georgia’s top-ranked defense has never been easily quantifiable with statistics. Besides, his popularity extends beyond football. Hence, the grassroots Heisman Trophy campaign that developed over the season.
“He has this personality that people embrace,” Smart said. “If you don’t know him, you’ve missed out. I wouldn’t say that he’s the best-kept secret now, but he probably was for three years. He’s just funny, has a great sense of humor, great work ethic, great leadership. He cares. He stands up and tells the team how much he cares about them and how he’ll do anything for them. I’m really proud of the way he’s handled this season because a lot of guys, when they come back, they don’t necessarily handle things the right way, and he’s done that.”
Mucho Bulldogs
Georgia dressed out more than 100 players and almost all of them played. Officially, UGA’s postgame participation report listed 91 players as having entered the game. But at least one of those was listed in error: George Pickens most definitely did not play.
But it appears the 90 others did. And a lot of them had names that many fans wouldn’t recognize. Names like Jehlen Cannady, Chase Harof, Tyler Malakus and Mekhi Mews. Some of the walk-ons were freshmen, others participated in Senior Day ceremonies before the game.
The Bulldogs were thrilled so many got in the game.
“There were probably 10 or 15 walk-ons that had never played a snap,” Smart said. “Some of them have probably taken somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 reps on our practice field. They got to play a snap because of the effort of guys that played to our standard.”
Tight end Michael “Sarge” Hagerty, outside linebacker Matt Brown and tackle Blake Watson were among walk-ons that Smart mentioned by name.
“(Getting in a game) can give the walk-ons a great experience and positive momentum,” Smart said. “When there’s good morale on your team with guys that played, they certainly give better effort in practice. I know the picture we’ll get in practice will be better.”
Quarterbacks galore
It would’ve been a good bet that Stetson Bennett and JT Daniels would both play Saturday against the Bulldogs’ FCS visitor. Both did. But Georgia actually got four quarterbacks into the game.
Redshirt freshman Carson Beck and true freshman Brock Vandagriff also got turns under center in the second half. Beck got three possessions spanning the third and fourth quarters and Vandagriff got the last two of the game.
Beck had the Bulldogs on a scoring drive right away, reaching the Buccaneers’ 2 before throwing an interception in the CSU end zone at the 7:52 mark of the third quarter. Beck made up for it on his next series. He completed three passes for 49 yards to lead Georgia on a five-play, 50-yard drive that ended with his touchdown pass to tight end Brett Seither. His next series resulted in five-play possession ending in another punt. Beck was 5-of-10 passing for passing for 77 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT and 11 yards on two carries.
Vandagriff, who has created a bit of a buzz as Georgia’s scout-team quarterback in practices, only was able to attempt one pass to Jackson Meeks, which was broken up. The rest of the plays were handoffs and his two series were three-and-outs.
Bennett threw an interception on Georgia’s opening possession, but was 8-of-14 for 105 yards and two TDs the rest of the way. Daniels took over at the 12:05 mark of the second quarter and led two TD drives after an initial three-and-out. He finished with 73 yards and a touchdown on 7-of-12 passing.
Catching on
With four catches for 36 yards and two touchdowns – all in the first half -- tight end Brock Bowers led 12 different Bulldogs who caught passes Saturday. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound freshman from Napa, Calif., set a school record for TD catches in a season by a tight end. He now has eight. That also ties Bowers for seventh on Georgia’s all-time time of receiving TDs in a season. With at least three games remaining, he needs just one more TD grab to move into a to seven-way tie for second, and three to tie all-time leader Terrence Edwards, who had 11 in 2002.
Bowers’ also has one rushing TD. So, his nine scores for 54 points is third on the team for non-kickers, behind Zamir White (66) and James Cook (60).
Four other players shared six targets Saturday but were unable to record receptions. So, a lot of receivers saw action as Georgia passed for 225 of their 488 total yards against Charleston Southern.
Among them was the long, lost Dominick Blaylock. The redshirt sophomore from Marietta, coming off back-to-back surgeries on different knees, played for the first time all season. He even hauled in two catches for 11 yards.
“Dom had the flu this week, we thought we’d get him back, and we got him back on Thursday, maybe,” Smart said. “He’s very smart, he’s very intelligent, he was able to jump right into the game plan. And he was coming back as we kind of lost Kearis (Jackson) at the back end of the week, battling the flu a little bit. So, those two guys kind of shared that spot. But we just want to give Dom some confidence, confidence to go out and play, catch the ball, get tackled and hit people, and do some of those things. Hopefully he can spin this into some momentum.”
This and that …
Georgia added four more sacks in the game, giving it 38 for the season. With at least three games remaining, that’s already fifth-best in season. The most in a season is 52 in 1981. The Bulldogs need seven more to run down the No. 2 spot of 45 in 2002.
Neither outside linebacker Nolan Smith (elbow) or left tackle Jamaree Salyer (foot) played due to injuries. Starting safety Christopher Smith was a surprise scratch due to what was described as a bone bruise in a knee. He was on crutches as sophomore Dan Jackson started instead.
Guard Warren Ericson came back from the flu to earn another start at right guard. … Jermaine Burton got his first start at flanker since the Auburn game on Oct. 9. He had two catches for 30 yards. … Georgia’s punt return average increased substantially. It had nine for 150 yards on Saturday, with Kearis Jackson accounting for 79 yards on four. That doubled the Bulldogs’ total for the year to 292 yards and increased the average return from 7.1 to 10.1 yards.
