Yep, that was full release. A couple of weeks ago I said I wanted another shot at Bama in the SECCG. I admit, it did seem unnecessary and a little naïve considering we had exactly 2 wins against Bama in 20 years. But, I’m beyond glad I got my wish. Beating teams like LSU and Texas to win the SEC Championship felt great, but this was on another level…and to do it in such an overwhelming and decisive manner made it feel euphoric. To make matters even better, I think we had more upside (on offense anyway). On to the grades…

Quarterback: A-

• Great rebound game for Rabun County’s finest. How should we characterize Gunner’s performance…extremely efficient? 20-26 for 156 and 3 TD’s, no INT’s…rushed for another 39 yards on 13 carries. The statistics aren’t going to remind anyone of Joe Burrow’s 2019 season, but the stats don’t tell the whole story of his game IMO. I’d venture to say Kirby and company assessed Alabama’s most recent offensive performances and felt pretty confident in our defense’s ability to stop/limit them. If that was the logic, no reason to ask Gunner to push the ball downfield and play too much high risk, high reward football. It was going to be a run first approach, with conservative passing plays, where check downs are your friend. Gunner did a great job picking up a couple of drive extending first downs, or creating better down and distance situations with his feet…love how he always dives forward to get those extra 2 to 3 yards instead of sliding…those yards make a difference. I’m not trying to throw shade at Carson Beck when I say this, but Gunner’s ability and willingness to run and pick up some tough yards when things break down are the biggest difference in QB play compared to last year. If Beck is playing QB in some of those situations, maybe drives stall and we have to settle for FG’s or punt more. The TD throw to Bell was a bullet and nice ball to Luckie to get us inside the 10 on a scoring drive. Gunner did exactly what he was asked to do and did it well…first UGA QB to defeat Alabama in the SECCG.      

Running Back: B+

• We knew how tough Gunner was, but Nate Frazier deserves every bit as much appreciation in the toughness category. Gunner threw a couple of balls that put Nate in a position where he might take a big shot, and damn if he didn’t. For a minute there, I thought Gunner must have caught Nate pissing on Gunner’s 1984 F-150 earlier this week. Regardless, Nate kept coming all game and was willing to run into the teeth of some stacked lines and fight for every yard. Awesome to see him get a touchdown going untouched to increase the lead to 21-0. He’s a very easy player to love. McCray picked up a very important 4^th and short, so nice contribution in his limited carries. How about Robinson catching our first TD pass…playing as a fullback no less. Chauncey didn’t have a ton of reps, but he made his last one count with a 19 yarder to ensure Bama wasn’t getting the ball back to put up a trash touchdown to make the game look closer than it was…word is he’s going to be fine after leaving the field hurt. Cash Jones caught a couple of balls for 21 yards…pretty typical line for him this year. Not an overwhelming statistical day from this group (41 for 141 and 1 TD), but effective enough and generally came through on the most important downs.

Offensive Line – B+

• I don’t think we can call it a dominant performance when you look at our total offensive production, but there’s something to be said for the production we achieved when we all but announced our game plan was to emphasize a physical running game. Not to mention, we started a RS Freshman at Center who probably had less than 75 snaps in his career. So I’m grading this on a bit of a curve…sue me. I’m sure Alabama fans will tell you LT Overton’s absence would have made a huge difference and our OL would have been more exposed…but, DILLIGAS (you figure out the acronym)? We just trotted out 3 freshmen OL to start the SECCG and won 28-7. Much like the RB’s, they showed up big after the punt block, and Everette’s interception, helped us go 2/2 in 4^th down situations and were the more physical team. Screw it…these guys deserve an A.  

Receivers (WR’s + TE’s) – A-

• This has been a common theme for other games this year…not an overwhelming day statistically, but how well did they do their job when called upon? Branch did what Branch does…maximized the opportunity when he got the ball with a little bit of space. He also had a big punt return giving us great field position to begin our third scoring drive. Dillon Bell probably had his best game of the season with 69 total yards on 8 touches…some very important gains on jet sweeps, a 19 yard reception on 2^nd and long (finished the catch and run with bad intentions) to put us inside the 5 yard line, and obviously the big touchdown catch on 3^rd down to put us up 14-0…great game for a loyal DGD. Quiet day for the TE’s on the receiving front, but loved the Luckie catch on a well designed play from Bobo and Delp made an important 1^st down catch following a Bama score to chew some clock and get a fresh series. It’s a broken record, but this crew always blocks their ass off and have to give a call to Humphreys for the big block to spring Frazier’s TD run, and also impressed with Reddell getting a lot of PT and showing some blocking chops on a few plays.   

Defensive Line – A+

• Been waiting to get to the defense…this is going to be fun. Said the same thing last week…go watch one of our first games of the season and take a look at the DL, then compare it to what we saw against Alabama. It’s not even close how much better this group is playing. There isn’t a player on the DL who isn’t playing at a much higher level than they started the season. Guys like JJA, McLeod, Griffin, Gabe Harris and even Miller look noticeably better than the early part of the season. Really loved the Gabe Harris hit when Simpson kept the ball on a read option…set the tone in a big way for what kind of game Bama was in for. The stats aren’t going to jump off the page individually…but the pressure they’re generating now is obvious, opposing QB’s have less time and rhythm…the entire defense has raised their level because of these guys starting things up front. I’ll leave you with this…Alabama had -3 yards rushing…and no, I don’t care if sack yardage is included in that figure. These guys are absolutely ballin’ right now.

Linebackers – A+       

• I’m not going to overthink it for the defensive groups…what more could the LB’s have done? Tackle Godzilla? Quintavious Johnson has become a difference maker and disruptor. We have the best group of ILB’s in the country…Allen posted 5 tackles and delivered a bone crushing hit that forced a 4^th down, Raylen Wilson chipped in with another 5 tackles and was all over the field, Chris Cole continues to look like a player created in an Xbox game, Justin Williams did a great job recovering the punt and helped pressure Simpson on that 4^th down desperation pass to the endzone…and Zayden Walker has forced his way onto the field as resident speed demon pass rushing extraordinaire. Again…Alabama had -3 yards rushing on the day…some serious BTA from this group.

Defensive Backs – A

• The only reason this isn’t an A+ is because Bolden dropped one interception…maybe two, if you want to count Simpson’s endzone desperation throw (but he did get a hand on it to alter the flight of the ball so it was a moot point anyway). The only other reason is because Demello didn’t stay composed getting a 15 yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct right after a sack that would’ve probably killed Bama’s eventual touchdown drive…and not a great job wrapping up Williams on a catch and run in the 1^st half. I’m a little more forgiving of the DPI he got on the TD drive because he had good coverage and the ball was underthrown…that’s hard as hell to avoid. Side note…I would love a world where DPI was called a lot less on underthrown balls…it almost encourages QB’s to throw bad balls and have receivers jump into DB’s…that wasn’t the case on the Demello play, just felt the need to express that opinion. How about Jacorey Thomas producing his best career game on a pretty damn important stage? Good on you dude. And…Resean Dinkins…stepping up like a boss with Aguero out. I don’t say this to knock Aguero, but did anyone else feel like Dinkins earned the starting spot moving forward with his play on Saturday? Oh yeah, Daylen Everette once again showed up huge in the SECCG with a great pick and return (mostly negated due to the facemask…but who gives a damn?). In other Bama games, that’s the kind of play we almost make and it ends up hitting the ground…but not on Saturday damnit! Oh yeah…Ellis Robinson continues to look like a shutdown corner…don’t think he gave up any catches where he was targeted, had great coverage and contested anything thrown his way…also showed some serious physicality on Bama’s first drive, stopping the ball carrier cold with a monster hit on 3^rd and short. Not sure this is even a hot take with the way he’s been playing, but calling Ellis to win the Thorpe award in 2026.

Special Teams – A+

• Easiest grade of the game…the Cole Speer blocked punt is one of those that will be remembered for a while and couldn’t have happened to a more loyal, hard working dude on our team. He put our offense in a great position to capitalize, and they rewarded his play with a big score a few plays later. Could that play be remembered as the play that changed the course of the UGA/Bama series moving forward? I know that’s very provocative…but just consider the possibility when you have a second. Branch had the big punt return that was the catalyst to our 3^rd touchdown of the game. Thorpedo was magnificent when called upon and Woodring was perfect on XP’s. Bama wasn’t able to return any punts (unless you count the muffed attempt) and their lone kickoff return went for all of 10 yards. Dominant special teams performance.       

Offensive Coaching – A-

• It’s not like we went for 500+ yards and 40+ points, but there was some genius in the game plan IMO. Like I said before, I think our coaches liked how our newfound badass defense matched up against Bama’s offense and opted for a conservative, high floor type of offensive game plan. I wouldn’t even say we methodically picked them apart, but I would say Bobo knew exactly when to hit the gas and he dialed up some great calls in critical moments. I admit, I wasn’t thrilled with our first two offensive series…felt like we were pulling the classic, “play to not lose” against Bama. But once we got the punt block, Bobo hit the right buttons at the right times. The play call on Robinson’s TD catch from the FB spot was perfect…reminded me of something we did in the 2007 Gator game with Brannan Southerland way back when. The 4^th down QB sneak where Freeling went in motion to the right side and gave Gunner a wide open path on the left side worked perfectly. The fake screen to Branch to hit Luckie on an explosive was a beauty and the execution on Nate’s untouched TD run was perfect. Bobo’s had some great games this year and a couple of head scratchers (as recently as last week) and on the head scratchers, I’ve mostly been critical of play calling that doesn’t seem to fit the situation at hand. Once we got up 14-0, I thought he called a great game based on the situation…didn’t get cute with play calls, kept delivering body blows with physical runs, picked his spots when we had short fields, didn’t risk turnovers and controlled the clock. I’m sure there will be a time in the playoff where we’ll need to be more explosive, but I thought Bobo and company managed the game very well.

Defensive Coaching – A+

• Whoever put the spirit of Buddy Ryan into Glenn Schumann beginning in the 4^th quarter of the Ole Miss game, we appreciate it. We went from a “keep everything in front of us, lots of outside cushion, bend but don’t break” type of philosophy, to a “kill anyone with the other uniform on every snap” type of philosophy. Simpson didn’t have the luxury of time on nearly every passing play. We’re sending blitzes from all over the place with great results. Look at our 3^rd down defense compared to where we were for the first half of the season. We haven’t given up more than 10 points in our last 4 games. I’ll do it one more time because it’s fun…Bama had -3 yards rushing…I don’t recall our 2021 defense even boasting that type of a stat. We held Bama to 7 total points and a little over 200 yards total offense…and those 7 points came on a drive we probably would have stopped them were it not for an unsportsmanlike penalty. Complete domination and they seem to get better every week…my compliments to you Schumann and company, you’ve more than earned it.  

CFP Drama – A+

• I’m one of those guys who didn’t want a 12 team playoff…I was fine with 4 teams, and I was cool with the idea of 6 teams…12 teams was a bridge too far for me, but we are where we are. That said, someone deserving as one of the 12 best teams was going to be left out of the mix and looks like Notre Dame got that (dis)honor. My take, I never thought it made sense that 5 conference champions had to be represented in the playoff…that’s how you end up with teams like JMU and Tulane in the playoff. I couldn’t care less about Notre Dame being left out of the playoff, but I’m more than convinced Notre Dame would smash either JMU or Tulane on any field. As much as I don’t like Alabama, I don’t think any team should be penalized (i.e. should not get removed from the CFP…but I’m open to adjusting seeds based on conference championship performances) for having to play a conference championship game, and they made that clear with Bama moving absolutely zero spots after a thorough a** kicking…wish they would have used that same logic in 2023 when Washington and Texas got the nod over us…man Bama has a golden horseshoe up their ass. I’ve not been overly impressed with Miami, but they at least beat Notre Dame in a H2H with the same win/loss record at the end of the season…so I get it. In summation, nobody should be at all surprised with the drama. It’s going to be a sh*t show every year and there will always be a handful of teams who feel they were worthy and got disrespected. What’s so awful about the whole thing is the best conference in America just played a conference championship game and what happened…absolutely nothing! Georgia came in as a #3 seed and left in the same spot after crushing Alabama. Alabama came in as a #9 seed, got smoked and guess what…they’re the #9 seed! That’s the kind of thing that’s going to convince decision makers that conference championship games should be eliminated…and that sucks for all of us.         

I don’t think anything will ever top 1/10/22 for me…but Saturday felt pretty damn great didn’t it? It’s not often you get a chance to avenge a defeat in the same season, and when you get that opportunity, you better take advantage…and Kirby made damn sure to do so. We’re one of the few teams that seems to be playing our best football at the end of the year. We have a few weeks to get a little healthier and all goals are still in front of us. We’ll see you in New Orleans! Go Dawgs!