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Georgia gives Alabama historic beatdown in CFB sim of SEC championship
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- Georgia gives Alabama historic beatdown in CFB sim of SEC championship
The Georgia Bulldogs (11-1) enter their biggest game of the year against the Alabama Crimson Tide (10-2) in the SEC championship. If they win, they get a bye in the College Football Playoff and more than likely a top 2 seed, but if they lose , then they will likely have to play an extra game, albeit a home game. In our sim of the game on "College Football 26", Georgia doesn't just win, they do it handily, beating Alabama 69-31.
The first quarter was even for the most part. Georgia punted on their first drive, and Alabama scored a touchdown, with Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson tossing a 15-yarder to wide receiver Germie Bernard at 9:16 in the quarter. Georgia responded quickly with a touchdown in a minute and a half, with Gunner Stockton finding Georgia wide receiver Noah Thomas in the end zone. Alabama scored another touchdown, with Ty Simpson finding the end zone on a scramble. The game was 14-7 with 3:16 left in the quarter.
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That was when the Georgia offense went nuclear, dropping 45 unanswered points from the end of the first quarter until midway through the third quarter. Gunner Stockton ran in a touchdown to end the first, and in the second, Georgia went on a 24-0 run. Peyton Woodring kicked a field goal at 12:31, then Gunner Stockton threw three touchdown passes: an 11-yard out to Lawson Luckie (8:43 in the second), a 6-yard pitch to Dillon Bell (5:37) and a 54-yard bomb to Zachariah Branch (1:53). By the end of the first half, it was 38-14.
In the third, Stockton kept up his torrid pace. He threw another deep touchdown, this time 73 yards to Noah Thomas with 11:20 left in the third. He tossed his sixth touchdown of the day to Oscar Delp from three yards out with 8:15 left. At this point, the Bulldogs amassed a 52-14 lead.
Ty Simpson briefly steadied Georgia's momentum with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Josh Cuevas at 5:07. However, Gunner Stockton hadn't cooled off yet. He threw two more touchdowns passes.
He threw another one to Oscar Delp with 3:03 left in the third, and in the fourth, he threw a 69-yard missile to Zachariah Branch with 14:32 left. Alabama countered with a Conor Talty field goal from 43 yards away at 11:59, one of the saddest field goals of all time. Georgia drove down the field, but had to settle for a Peyton Woodring field goal from 39 yards out, and to end the scoring, Ty Simpson tossed another touchdown pass to Josh Cuevas with 2:19 in the second to reach the final score of 69-31.
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Gunner Stockton had as close to a perfect day as any quarterback in history. He threw for 655 yards and eight touchdowns on 54 attempts for a 230.4 passer rating. That would be the most passing yards and touchdowns in a game among all SEC quarterbacks, with the record being at seven. Stockton also had 18 yards and a touchdown on the ground, and he never got sacked.
If he had this game in real life, he would finish the season 28 touchdowns through the air. That would beat out Diego Pavia (27) for the most passing touchdowns of any SEC quarterback.
With his historic day, his receivers were also in the history books. All Georgia pass-catchers, outside of running back Nate Frazier , had a touchdown, and Zachariah Branch (260), Dillon Bell (120), and Noah Thomas (134) had over 100 receiving yards. Branch's tally would stand at ninth all-time among all SEC wide receivers. Nate Frazier had a productive day on the ground, with 95 yards on 15 attempts, but the passing attack was the star of the show
The Alabama passing attack came to play as well. Ty Simpson threw for 590 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception on 61 drop backs. Four of his receivers had over 100 yards on the day, with Germie Bernard (153) and Ryan Williams (154) combining for over 300 yards. Unfortunately, Alabama just couldn't run the ball with Jam Miller having just 32 yards on 18 attempts.
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The Georgia run defense was stout, racking up 16 tackles for loss. That would break Georgia's previous record (15 against Texas in the 2024 SEC championship), and would tie for second place among all SEC teams for most TFLs in a game. The pass rush also generated five sacks, with Gabe Harris Jr. leading the way with 2.5 sacks.
Overall, there were 1,401 combined yards, 71 combined first downs, 166 combined plays and 100 combined points in this game. It's very unlikely this happens in the actual SEC championship, but Georgia fans are hoping the result of Georgia winning stays the same. The sim is 3-1 in predicting the result this year.
This article originally appeared on UGA Wire: Georgia dominates Alabama in CFB 26 sim of SEC championship
