Georgia Football Winners and Losers from Dawgs' Big Road Win Over Alabama Crimson Tide

Everyone in the program is a winner when the Georgia Bulldogs beat the Alabama Crimson Tide, and that is what took place in Tuscaloosa on Saturday night.

Kirby Smart and the Dawgs escaped Bryant-Denny Stadium with a 20-17 win over Alabama. This marked Smart’s first win over the Tide in the regular season and the first for Georgia over that program since 2007. Georgia’s wins over Alabama recently have been in the SEC Championship and National Championship.

The win wasn’t perfect, but it was really important. Let’s pick the biggest winners and losers for the Dawgs after this one:

Winners

Dwight Phillips Jr.

Georgia’s starting running back Nate Frazier was a late scratch after not being on the Wednesday injury report. He suffered a rib injury against Arkansas which kept him out of the Oklahoma game the following week. He then played a handful of snaps against Vanderbilt in the second half.

Chauncey Bowens suffered an injury to his foot against Vanderbilt last week. He was ruled out for this game on Wednesday.

That meant Dwight Phillips Jr. was in line for a starting role and potentially a workhorse role. Better known by the team as “Peanut,” Phillips Jr. got exactly that and he performed.

Peanut carried the ball 17 times for 120 yards. He had a long run of 31 yards and averaged 7.1 yards per carry.

“Y'all don’t know how special this kid is,” Smart said.

When Smart and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo were discussing Frazier’s injury before the game, Smart knew that meant Phillips Jr. was in for a big workload. He told the media about his conversation with Bobo.

“We gotta give it to Peanut,” Smart said to Bobo. “If we gotta give it to Dwight that many times, he can do it.”

Phillips Jr. has waited his turn and he continues to make a bigger impact each and every week. He will be trusted with a lot of touches next week if Frazier and Bowens can’t go again, and he might be getting the ball a lot even if they can.

All of his teammates were very proud and complimentary of Phillips Jr. after the game.

Joseph Jonah-Ajonye

The former high four-star prospect has gotten a lot of hype over the last couple of years, but hasn’t made a huge or signature play. That changed tonight.

Jonah-Ajonye forced Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell to fumble on the Tide’s opening possession, forcing a turnover. It was logged as a sack as well.

Georgia tied the turnover battle with Alabama, which is rare. The Tide have forced turnovers at one of the highest rates in college football this season. Alabama was moving the ball on that opening drive. Even though it was early, it completely changed the game.

Quintavius Johnson

Quintavius Johnson wasn’t perfect on Saturday night, but he was super important. Russell is not a normal athlete. He is slippery and has track speed. That is not common at the quarterback position, so he is going to beat defenses.

“There’s no such thing as containing Russell… that kid is an elite athlete, an elite player. He is a really good football player and he is going to be hell in this league for two years,” Smart said.

Johnson did make a huge impact in this game, even if Russell was able to escape the pocket for an important gain a few times. Johnson sacked Russell once and retrieved the fumble on the opening drive.

He is one of the players on this defense that doesn’t get a lot of attention, but does the dirty work. Against Alabama, he made flashy plays.

Craig Dandridge

The true freshman already proved before this game that he is a real weapon for Georgia. Now, he has a game under his belt in a top 10 matchup where he was used as one of the primary weapons.

Dandridge caught four passes for 45 yards. He was targeted six times, which was more than any other Georgia passer.

The headline, however, is that he caught multiple third-down passes from Gunner Stockton in pivotal moments, including one down the sideline. One of the questions we have had for this team regards who Stockton will look to in pivotal moments. Tonight, it was Dandridge.

Losers

Sacovie White-Helton

Sacovie White-Helton made two mistakes that fortunately did not cost Georgia the game, but they are certainly going to be talked about when the coaches go over the film with the team this week.

White-Helton dropped a pass in the end zone that would have given Georgia a bigger lead. Instead, the Dawgs had to settle for a field goal. It was the game-winning field goal, but a touchdown will always be preferred.

White-Helton also muffed a punt inside the Dawgs’ own 10-yard line while the game was tied at 17 points apiece with 10:44 to go in the fourth quarter. The Dawgs recovered it and he was very emotional about it, but that could have cost Georgia the game.

Ethan Barbour

The tight end didn’t log any counting stats and was guilty of two penalties that stalled Georgia’s drives. One of them was while the Dawgs were within their own 10-yard-line.

Barbour has made a big impact for Georgia this season, particularly in the blocking game, but penalties were a huge issue for Georgia against the Tide. He didn’t help in that category. Georgia lost the penalty battle to Alabama 6-5.

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