No. 3 Georgia 28, No. 9 Alabama 7: Upon Further Review

Alabama football entered the 2025 SEC Championship Game having won 17 straight times in the city of Atlanta and 10 of 11 against the Georgia Bulldogs. Kirby Smart's team flipped the script in an utter domination over the weekend, hoisting the championship trophy after a 28-7 beatdown against the No. 9 Crimson Tide in which not much of anything went right for Alabama.

It was the Crimson Tide's first loss in its eight games inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where it has played at least once in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023 and now 2025. Georgia (12-1) had lost all four of its previous cracks at Alabama in the conference championship game until Saturday; the program has won the SEC in three of the past four seasons.

"Two teams that fight. Two teams that play hard. Got to this point, laid it out on the line," Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer said. "I'm proud of our guys. I'll never question the heart, the fight, what these guys bring. You can see at the end of the game, these guys still giving everything they got, both sides of the ball, all phases."

Ultimately, not only did the crushing loss not keep Alabama (10-3) out of the College Football Playoff, it did not impact the team's seeding prospects at all. The Crimson Tide is the No. 9 seed in the 12-team bracket, and set to rematch No. 8 Oklahoma on Dec. 19 in Norman. The Sooners are 2-0 against DeBoer during his tenure at Alabama with the most important game yet in the series coming up.

Player of the Game: Senior wide receiver Germie Bernard led his team in receiving yards on an afternoon where the running game got absolutely nothing going, and quarterback Ty Simpson never truly found his rhythm. Bernard had six catches on 11 targets, both team highs, and a 23-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter that represented Alabama's only points of the game. He also executed a lateral to Daniel Hill on a third-down play in the final quarter that resulted in the Crimson Tide making it into the red zone, though no points eventuated.

Play of the Game: One of the matchup's early momentum swings helped Georgia set the tone for the decisive result. Just over halfway through the first quarter, with the scoreboard showing zeroes for both sides, the Bulldogs' Cole Speer got home on a punt by Alabama's Blake Doud and blocked it. The football bounced to Justin Williams, who took it a short distance to the Crimson Tide 21. Georgia scored the first touchdown of the game on the fourth play of the ensuing drive and would go on to begin its series with short fields multiple times throughout the affair.

"We got a new face in the spot. Obviously, that's LT Overton's position," DeBoer said. Overton missed the SEC title game because of an undisclosed issue. "I don't fault our guys that were in that spot, doing everything they can. But there's a check we gotta make... We missed it. They got an extra hat that we couldn't block."

Kalen DeBoer said Kaleb Edwards missed a check allowing Georgia to block a punt in the first quarter.

Edwards was on the unit replacing LT Overton and the blocked punt set up Georgia's first touchdown pic.twitter.com/AoEbNvCLuF
— Joe Gaither (@JoeGaither6) December 7, 2025

Stat of the Game: A common refrain surrounding this Crimson Tide team is its rushing attack, and how it hasn't shown up every single week. Absent Jam Miller and Kevin Riley, both of whom are nursing injuries, Alabama finished in the red by three yards in the rushing category on Saturday. DeBoer said postgame that Hill, who got the start in the backfield, is playing through an injury of his own. He averaged 2.8 yards per carry on four attempts. Simpson finished the contest with 212 passing yards, 64 fewer than in the Crimson Tide's 24-21 win against Georgia in September, and the team closed the SEC Championship Game with 209 total yards. A portion of the rushing total can be attributed to the fact that Simpson was sacked three times and credited with -28 rush yards.

10 things you may not have noticed...

1. Alabama recorded 188 fewer total yards than its first meeting with Georgia this season.

Daniel Hill. — Dec 6, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide running back Daniel Hill (4) rushes during the second quarter against the Georgia Bulldogs during the 2025 SEC Championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Both teams gained over 300 total yards when they met back in late September in Athens. Alabama won out in that category, 397-357. Its 280 passing yards in that game amounted to more than its total yardage (209) when playing for a conference title on Saturday. The Bulldogs just missed out on 300, closing the show with a mark of 297.

2. Ryan Williams was on the receiving end of one of Alabama's three 20-plus yard passing plays.

Sophomore Ryan Williams didn't have any catches in the Iron Bowl despite playing 38 snaps. He found his way back into the box score against Georgia, and of the three passing plays the Crimson Tide had go for 20 yards or more, Williams caught the first and did more than enough to move the chains on a third down with four yards to go in the first quarter, getting 20 yards on the dot.

3. Ty Simpson's completion percentage was his lowest of the campaign, and he didn't reach the 50 percent mark.

Simpson has had good games and bad games in his first go-around as a collegiate starter. In none of those games, whether he was elite, average or inconsistent, did his completion percentage dip below 50 percent. That changed on Saturday when he went 19-for-39 with one score and one interception, with his completion percentage standing at 48.7 percent. He had not previously thrown for more than 200 yards since Nov. 15 at home against Oklahoma, when he passed for 326 yards.

4. The Bulldogs worked in more running plays for Gunner Stockton than in the two teams' September game.

Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton's running ability has been a talking point entering both of the team's games against Alabama in 2025. It wasn't on much display in Athens, as he only had five rushing attempts, though he did get one long run of 21 yards out of those carries. Stockton put up 39 yards on the ground in Atlanta, tying Nate Frazier for the most carries on the squad with 13. The Bulldogs had fewer rushing yards in the rematch, but also regularly experienced very favorable field position to start drives, which plays a role in that output.

5. Germie Bernard's touchdown was his first since scoring the game-winner at South Carolina on Oct. 25.

Bernard embarked on a four-game scoring streak early this season. However, Alabama's leading receiver had been held scoreless for the past three games prior to the team's trip to Atlanta. His last touchdown before that? The 25-yard run that won the South Carolina game right before the Crimson Tide's second bye week. He also had a receiving touchdown that day. Alabama has also not equaled or exceeded the 29 points it scored in that contest since.

6. Domani Jackson got the start at corner for Dijon Lee Jr. and played one of his better games of the season.

Domani Jackson and Deontae Lawson. — Dec 6, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; Alabama linebacker Deontae Lawson (0) and Alabama defensive back Domani Jackson (1) combine to bring down Georgia running back Nate Frazier (3) at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News | Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In DeBoer's postgame press conference, he mentioned that freshman cornerback Dijon Lee Jr. was evaluated before the matchup, leading to Domani Jackson starting. Lee played, but Jackson had three solo tackles and four total. It hasn't been the season Jackson expected to have after making 51 total tackles and grabbing two interceptions in 2024, especially with the number of reps the talented Lee has gotten, but two of Jackson's best games this year were against Georgia. He had five total tackles in the regular season matchup.

7. True freshman tight end Kaleb Edwards set a new career high in receiving yards.

Alabama has been without starting tight end Josh Cuevas since November; he last played in the regular season meeting against Oklahoma. He was playing well immediately prior to getting injured and it's an on-field loss for the Crimson Tide. However, freshman Kaleb Edwards has seen the field all year. His 42 yards (with a long of 21) in the SEC Championship Game eclipsed his previous single-game best by 12 yards. His three catches were also the most he has had in a game. There has been increased opportunity to go around the tight end room without Cuevas available. Edwards was the beneficiary of that this past weekend.

8. Alabama linebacker Nikhai Hill-Green led all tacklers in the game with seven.

Arguably Alabama's best defensive player Saturday, linebacker Nikhai Hill-Green logged seven tackles in a game for the third time this season. He also had two deflections and was credited with half of one of the team's tackles for loss. The Crimson Tide defense has consistently had to lift its offense up. Hill-Green has generally been one of its consistent presences since taking his play to the next level in the Missouri game, and his four solo tackles against Georgia were the most solo stops for him since facing South Carolina, when he had seven.

9. The Crimson Tide had three more tackles for loss than the Bulldogs.

Qua Russaw. — Qua Russaw (4). | Alabama Athletics

There were not many positives for the Crimson Tide from its bid for the 2025 SEC title. It was the less-penalized team, which was also the case in the first Georgia game, and had seven tackles for loss compared to the Bulldogs' four. There were, however, more opportunities for Alabama since Georgia ran 67 total plays (the Crimson Tide had 55) and held the ball for 36 minutes and 52 seconds. Yhonzae Pierre, Justin Hill, Zabien Brown, Tim Keenan III and Jordan Renaud were all given credit for full tackles for loss. Halves went to Hill-Green, James Smith, Isaia Faga and Keon Keeley.

10. All of Ty Simpson's 2025 interceptions have come in the first half.

Georgia's Daylen Everette intercepted Simpson late in the first quarter to set up what became a Bulldogs touchdown drive during the second quarter. It was the redshirt junior signal caller's fifth interception of the year, but none of those have come after the second quarter. The latest in a game that Simpson has had an interception was on the last play of the first half against Eastern Illinois Nov. 22. Georgia had other opportunities to turn Simpson over on Saturday; failure to do so did not alter the outcome of the game.