Weather Could Be a Big Factor in Georgia Football-Alabama Football Showdown

The Georgia Bulldogs and Alabama Crimson Tide will take the field during the regular season for the third consecutive season.

Kirby Smart and the Dawgs have fallen to Kalen DeBoer’s squad in each of the last two regular season bouts, and the previous matchup in Tuscaloosa ended up as an instant classic. It seems that every time these two programs step on the field together, it is memorable. This game could be memorable for terrible weather, much like the 2015 matchup in Athens.

Multiple weather outlets are forecasting that there is going to be 50% precipitation coverage in Tuscaloosa for the duration of the game that will kickoff at 6:30 p.m. CST. There are also projected to be 15 MPH winds with gusts up to 25 MPH.

Smart was asked about the weather on Monday and he downplayed its effects a little bit.

“Yeah, just assess it based on the situation we're dealing with. Weather obviously can be a factor. It was this time last week, it was gonna be a monsoon for the Vanderbilt game. So you know, you gotta plan based on it, and you've gotta change the plan based on the future forecast,” Smart said.

Georgia has gotten into a few strange weather games so far this season. The season opener against Tennessee State reached 97 degrees, which marked one of the hottest games the Dawgs have ever participated in. The rest of the games have been either very hot or very humid, with some rain against Western Kentucky. The only game that featured tame weather was the contest against Oklahoma.

It could be a game that is determined in the trenches if Bryan-Denny Stadium is a victim of a downpour and heavy winds. Alabama has run the ball significantly better than it did a year ago. Georgia has simmered down after rushing for over 250 yards per game in its first three matchups of the season.

Both teams have been good in the special teams game. Georgia kicker Peyton Woodring hasn’t missed a kick, and is in the midst of a 206 consecutive extra points made streak.

Smart was remiss to comment on the kicking game.

“I don’t get too much into the kickers and talk to them about it because they practice against it,” Smart said. “They work in it, and we do that in the off-season, we do it in preseason camp, and we do it every week.”

Woodring didn’t seem worried about it on Monday.

"We practice in the wet conditions all the time," Woodring said. "We do wet ball trails every week to prepare for those moments. And then wind is something you see in pregame. You get to feel both sides of the stadium, which way the wind's going, get a good read on it and how far you have to play a ball outside of uprights or where."

He talked about kicks the way that Smart talked about games.

“Every kick is independent of another. If you miss, you can always come back and make a big one,” Woodring said.

We will see how much the weather impacts the game, but the forecast hasn’t changed much over the last few days.

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