Jalen Milroe has quarterbacked Alabama football in some big games and come through in some clutch moments in a full season plus a piece of another as the Crimson Tide's primary starter.
He's got an SEC Championship Game win on his resume. He claims a stunning hero moment in an Iron Bowl thriller, on the road, no less, right underneath that. And lest anyone forget, he's walked off Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium with wins over Tennessee and LSU as well.
Saturday night was different.
Saturday night's 41-34 win over a Georgia team that entered ranked the nation's No. 1 team in the US LBM Coaches Poll put the Crimson Tide 's fourth-year junior into a different stratosphere. His development as a passer took a leap against a defense that will likely go right back to being dominant next week. His contention for the 2024 Heisman Trophy accelerated from first gear to fourth. And when Georgia roared back to briefly take a late fourth-quarter lead, Milroe, stymied for most of the second half to that point, calmly connected on a deep ball to freshman Ryan Williams for a 75-yard touchdown pass and what proved to be the game-winning score. Milroe will wake up Sunday viewed differently by everyone from national pundits to NFL scouts to his few remaining critics.
That is, if the critics are even still around.
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In gaming parlance, one of my kids tells me, it's called leveling up. And in so doing, Milroe leveled a defense that arrived in Tuscaloosa with a sterling reputation and left with that reputation in tatters.
A sellout crowd, in what could turn out to be the biggest regular-season game of the year in college football, witnessed Milroe's star brighten in multiple ways. He excelled in recognizing the open man in the short, quick passing game, mitigating the Georgia pass rush with easy yardage where it could be found. That's an aspect of his game that, in the past, has been spotty. Saturday, especially in the first half, it was spot-on.
His second touchdown pass, to running back Jam Miller over the top of a defender, was perfectly timed and deadly accurate. On another first-half throw, he recognized a blitz and threw directly into the void it left behind, finding tight end C.J. Dippre for a big gain to the middle of the field that was called back on a personal foul. A year ago, Milroe likely would've bailed the pocket and run on such a play, and perhaps made a big gain on his own. But burning the blitz with a pass is the stuff of a savvy veteran, and Milroe looked like one.
His lone interception near the end of the half? Not on him.
Milroe finished with 27 completions on 33 attempts for 374 yards and a pair of TD passes.
Meanwhile, offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan livened up the play-calling like only an OC who trusts his quarterback can. Sheridan called multiple trick plays, including a double-reverse pass. And although the gadgets didn't generate big plays, they served notice to Georgia defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann that the Crimson Tide can, and will, try anything. How about a direct snap to running back Jam Miller with Milroe looking toward the sideline to dupe the Georgia defense into thinking he was changing the play? It all served to punctuate a loose, fun vibe that the Milroe-led offense carried for four first-half touchdowns.
Of course, the prolific rushing skills that Milroe has displayed since the day he stepped on the field for Alabama were on full display. His signature scrambles out of the pocket on pass plays were at their improvisational best. But on this night, Sheridan unleashed Milroe on a number of designed runs that were equally damaging to the Georgia defense. He broke loose for a 36-yard touchdown run in the first half and finished with 117 yards on the ground.
By game's end, Alabama looked like a national championship contender.
And Milroe looked like a better quarterback.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on X.com @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama football QB Jalen Milroe took his game to new level vs Georgia
