Current:Home > FinanceAlabama football wants shot at Texas after handling Georgia: 'We're the top team.' -StockSource
Alabama football wants shot at Texas after handling Georgia: 'We're the top team.'
Charles H. Sloan View
Date:2025-04-08 23:00:18
- Veteran Alabama player says Tide should be No. 1, and he relishes a shot at Texas. Alabama's swagger is back.
- Alabama lost its air of invincibility at end of Nick Saban's tenure. It took a step toward regaining that by beating Georgia.
- Alabama, Texas on collision course for SEC Championship Game, but Tennessee might interfere.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – It wasn’t just Alabama's national titles. It was the air of invincibility.
When Nick Saban’s dynasty hummed and he established Alabama as college football’s standard, the Crimson Tide became like Tiger wearing red on Sundays. Competitors wilted at the sight.
Consider Saban’s final national championship team, the 2020 squad filled with such swagger and such firepower. That team wrecked one opponent after another en route to perfection.
Then, the dynasty finally fizzled. Alabama stopped being extraordinary, while Georgia ascended the throne.
Alabama didn’t recede from relevance in the final years of Saban’s career, but it did surrender dominance. Texas stripped away whatever veneer of invincibility remained one year ago inside Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Alabama took one big step Saturday night toward re-establishing supremacy – if not invincibility. The No. 4 Crimson Tide took apart No. 1 Georgia throughout three quarters before staving off the Bulldogs’ mad rally in a 41-34 triumph.
Fans inside Bryant-Denny celebrated a crimson revival.
What statement did this victory make?
“I definitely think it says we’re the top team in the country,” Alabama tight end CJ Dippre told me after contributing to Alabama’s second victory over Georgia in as many seasons. “This is the biggest game so far to happen this season, and we came out on top.”
Oh, and one more thing.
Alabama wants Texas.
HIGH TIDEJalen Milroe, Ryan Williams Alabama party while humbling Georgia
UP AND DOWNAlabama-Georgia classic leads Week 5 winners and losers
Dippre does, at least. He wants a shot to atone for Alabama’s 34-24 loss to the Longhorns last September that put Texas on a path to the playoff.
“I definitely wish we could play them again,” Dippre said, “especially because they gave us a loss at home last year.”
Alabama might get that chance. The Crimson Tide won’t play Texas during the regular season, but the two teams are now on a collision course for the SEC championship game – although Tennessee could interrupt that matchup and steal a spot for itself if it were to beat Alabama next month.
Georgia can’t be thinking about Atlanta in the aftermath of this loss. It’ll need help to make it there. Heck, the Bulldogs might have their hands full even making the playoff.
Kirby Smart didn’t hammer the panic button. He repeatedly referenced the team’s four turnovers in explanation of this loss. But, Georgia’s sputter extends multiple weeks. Before facing Alabama, it flirted with disaster in a one-point escape at Kentucky.
Smart didn’t have much to offer in explanation of his 1-6 record against Alabama.
“I don't know, what's everybody else's record against them, you know?” Smart said. “Has anybody got one better than 1-6 that’s played them (that many times)? I don't think so.”
Oof, that reads like a defeated coach who expects to lose to Alabama – or, at least, he’s grown accustomed to it.
“I think they've got really good players,” Smart explained.
Smart’s got really good players, too, but they were overwhelmed throughout the first three quarters.
Georgia trailed 33-15 with less than 10 minutes remaining before ripping off three touchdowns in a span of just more than seven minutes to claim an improbable lead.
“The scoreboard doesn’t say it all,” Dippre said. “It was (30-7).”
And then, in a blink, it wasn’t.
The heroics of quarterback Jalen Milroe and wide receiver Ryan Williams ensured Alabama’s big party didn’t end in agony. The Crimson Tide could finally exhale after Zabien Brown intercepted Carson Beck in the end zone with less than a minute remaining. Beck had a hand in all four of Georgia’s turnovers.
Alabama’s near collapse and Georgia’s 519 yards of offense were signs that it might be a blessing Texas isn’t the Tide's next opponent.
“I think we could’ve played, definitely, way better on both sides of the ball,” Alabama linebacker Jihaad Campbell said.
It wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough for one night.
Alabama dropkicked Georgia off its perch and charted a course that just might include that rematch with Texas that Dippre craves.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's national college football columnist. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.
Subscribe to read all of his columns.
veryGood! (9292)
Related
- Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
- Illinois Supreme Court upholds unconstitutionality of Democrats’ law banning slating of candidates
- In Alabama Meeting, TVA Votes to Increase the Cost of Power, Double Down on Natural Gas
- Judge reduces charges against former cops in Louisville raid that killed Breonna Taylor
- Bodycam footage shows high
- Federal lawsuit challenges mask ban in suburban New York county, claims law is discriminatory
- Top workplaces: Your chance to be deemed one of the top workplaces in the US
- Dr. Fauci was hospitalized with West Nile virus and is now recovering at home, a spokesperson says
- Bodycam footage shows high
- What to watch: Here's something to 'Crow' about
Ranking
- Federal hiring is about to get the Trump treatment
- Takeaways from Fed Chair Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole
- Houston’s Plastic Waste, Waiting More Than a Year for ‘Advanced’ Recycling, Piles up at a Business Failed Three Times by Fire Marshal
- After millions lose access to internet subsidy, FCC moves to fill connectivity gaps
- The FTC says 'gamified' online job scams by WhatsApp and text on the rise. What to know.
- Polaris Dawn mission: Launch of commercial crew delayed 24 hours, SpaceX says
- Logan Paul Addresses Accusation He Pushed Dog Off Boat in Resurfaced Video
- Kansas judge throws out machine gun possession charge, cites Second Amendment
Recommendation
How to watch new prequel series 'Dexter: Original Sin': Premiere date, cast, streaming
Kansas City Chiefs make Creed Humphrey highest-paid center in NFL
Hailey Bieber Gives Birth, Welcomes First Baby With Justin Bieber
Government announces more COVID-19 tests can be ordered through mail for no cost
Hackers hit Rhode Island benefits system in major cyberattack. Personal data could be released soon
Georgia lawmakers say the top solution to jail problems is for officials to work together
Danny Jansen to make MLB history by playing for both Red Sox and Blue Jays in same game
Hailey Bieber Gives Birth, Welcomes First Baby With Justin Bieber