Say what you want about Alabama football in a post-Nick Saban world. One thing remains the same: Alabama has Kirby Smart and Georgia's number.
Despite plenty of doubt following a season-opening road loss to Florida State, Alabama has bounced back with three straight wins. You could try and belittle that based on the level of competition from the first two, but what are they going to say now?
Alabama just went on the road and did something nobody else has done the last six seasons: beat Georgia in Athens. Alabama's win snaps a 33-game home winning streak for the Bulldogs. It was fitting, as breaking Georgia streaks has become an annual tradition for the Crimson Tide.
Last season, Alabama's 41-34 win in Tuscaloosa snapped Georgia's 42-game regular-season win streak. The year before in the SEC Championship Game, Alabama's 27-24 win put an end to Georgia's 29-game winning streak and officially ended their chase for a third consecutive National Championship.
Georgia has been the most consistent program in the country the last five years. But they are still looking up at Alabama. Big brother is still big brother.
Kirby Smart took the baton as the best coach in college football after Nick Saban retired. But the last two seasons have proven that Smart didn't have a Saban problem: he has an Alabama problem. He's now 1-7 against the Crimson Tide and 0-2 against Kalen DeBoer.
Smart's career in Athens will always have a crimson colored asterisk.
Alabama's win puts them right back in the College Football Playoff picture
If you told me at halftime while Alabama held a 24-14 lead that the Crimson Tide wouldn't score again, I would have been pretty convinced they had lost the football game. But credit Kalen DeBoer and his team: they stared adversity in the face on the road, and finally, they didn't blink.
And credit to defensive coordinator Kane Wommack, who has taken plenty of (deserved) criticism. He took plenty in this game, too, with Alabama struggling to stop the Georgia ground game. But the defense rose to the occasion multiple times in the second half to win the football game.
On a 4th-and-1 from the 8-yard line early in the fourth quarter and Alabama nursing a three-point lead, Smart chose to roll the dice and go for it. LT Overton blew up the play, knocking Cash Jones off balance for a three-yard loss to turn the ball over.
Later, on a 3rd-and-9 with under four to go, Alabama blew up a screen pass to Jones with freshman Dijon Lee making the play to force a loss of yards and a Georgia punt. The Bulldogs wouldn't touch the football again.
Alabama's offense ended the game with the ball in their hands, finishing it off with a brilliant play call by Ryan Grubb that saw Ty Simpson complete a pass to senior RB Jam Miller for a first down to end the game.
It was a massive victory for Alabama and DeBoer, restoring the fanbase's faith in the direction of the program under the second-year head coach, who came under fire following a disappointing 2025 opener.
Now, after yet another win over Georgia, all is forgiven as Alabama enters October right in the thick of the SEC and College Football Playoff race.