The Alabama Crimson Tide (No. 4 in the AP poll, No. 3 in the CFP rankings) put on a great offensive showing against the Georgia Bulldogs (#1 in both) in Saturday’s SEC Championship Game, particularly from the middle of the second quarter on. The Tide trailed 10-0 at one point early in the second quarter, but then pulled off a 75-yard touchdown drive (capped by a 67-yard touchdown pass from Bryce Young to Jameson Williams), an 80-yard TD drive (capped by a 13-yard TD pass to John Metchie III), a 79-yard drive finished with a 33-yard field goal from Will Reichard, a 75-yard TD drive (capped by an 11-yard run by Young), and another 75-yard TD drive (capped by a 55-yard pass to Williams), with only one Georgia touchdown intervening (after the field goal). Here’s the TD from Williams (seen at left above celebrating with Jahleel Billingsley) that put Alabama up 31-17:
Bryce Young and Jameson Williams connect for the Alabama bomb!
It's 31-17 Crimson Tide over No. 1 Georgia in the third quarter. pic.twitter.com/J0d4wtV60Y
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) December 4, 2021
That Alabama scoring all came in just under 17 minutes of clock in the second and third quarters. The Tide first got the ball on this first drive with 14:56 left in the second quarter, and the touchdown that put them up 31-17 came with 13:10 left in the third. with only one Bulldogs’ touchdown intervening in the middle. And, as Jason Starrett of The Athletic noted, that means that Alabama scored more against Georgia in that five-drive span than teams had collectively scored against the Bulldogs in any previous month this year:
Alabama has scored more points in its last 5 drives (31) than Georgia allowed in any month this season.
Any MONTH.
— Jason Starrett (@starrettjason) December 4, 2021
That came despite Georgia playing four games in each of September, October, and November. Here’s a table illustrating that (data from Sports-Reference):
So the Alabama offense scored more against Georgia in 16 minutes than the four total teams the Bulldogs faced in each of September, October, and November. That’s remarkable.
[Jason Starrett on Twitter; photo from Jason Getz/USA Today Sports]
