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The Tuscaloosa News
Alabama football owns Georgia and it's not just a Nick Saban thing | Goodbread
- Story byThe Tuscaloosa News
- Alabama football owns Georgia and it's not just a Nick Saban thing | Goodbread
ATHENS, Ga. — When legendary Alabama football coach Nick Saban announced his retirement following the 2023 season, a sigh of relief could be heard throughout the SEC.
But Georgia , perhaps, should've held its breath.
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The Crimson Tide might not be the national championship threat it once was, but it still owns the Bulldogs. And that's not just a Nick Saban thing anymore. Not after UA dispatched the third-ranked team in the nation on its own field, 24-21, to give coach Kalen DeBoer two wins in as many years over the Bulldogs.
This one snapped Georgia's 33-game home winning streak that began in October of 2019. And you can bet it will stick to UGA coach Kirby Smart, who has now lost seven of eight games against Alabama since leaving Saban's UA staff to become head coach at his alma mater.
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"I mean, what's everybody else's record against them? You got it? I don't (have it) either. I don't lose sleep over that because those games have been, like, championship-caliber games, right? And even when we play in the regular season ... I just saw 25 scouts out there," Smart said. "They're all there to watch these teams play. That's not gonna affect me. I'm gonna be happy and just go-lucky if our team comes back and plays well. That's what I worry about."
After a disappointing first season at Alabama and a loss to Florida State to open 2025, this was something of a crossroads game for DeBoer. A loss would have rendered Alabama a two-loss team with eight games left to play, leaving virtually zero margin for error the rest of the season in order to reach the College Football Playoff.
Indeed, UA's third loss last year proved to be its undoing at CFP selection time.
Instead, the Crimson Tide is off to a 1-0 start in SEC play with a victory over a Georgia team that might still prove to be the toughest opponent on the schedule. The bad taste that has lingered from the FSU loss was thoroughly washed out in Athens, giving UA a renewed reason for optimism. And for DeBoer, it couldn't have come at a better time.
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If last year's home win over the Bulldogs was DeBoer's signature win with the Crimson Tide, this one co-signed.
Georgia gets its next crack at Alabama next season in Tuscaloosa, but until then, the Crimson Tide will continue holding ownership papers. UA has now won three in a row in the series and 10 of the last 11 dating back to the fabled "blackout" game in 2008, which Alabama won 41-34 in Saban's second season as coach. Like Saban, DeBoer also now has a road win over Georgia in his second year.
And this one served notice to the rest of the league that the Crimson Tide can still be a very dangerous Saturday-night date.
Tuscaloosa News sport columnist Chase Goodbread.
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 owns Georgia with or without Nick Saban
