Alabama Crimson Tide Defensive Coordinator, Kane Wommack took lots of heat in the first half of the 2025 season. Wommack is owed an apology from the doubters. My early season support for Wommack slowly decayed until it reached a tipping point when a not very good Tennessee produced 410 yards against Wommack's Swarm Defense. I concluded he could not provide what the Alabama Crimson Tide needed. I could not have been more wrong.
Alabama Crimson Tide Defense better than Georgia Defense
Wommack's defense has improved so significantly that it now ranks among the SEC's best. More importantly, going into the SEC Championship Game, Alabama arguably has a better defense than the Georgia Bulldogs.
Statistics are indicators. They do not win games due to too many unpredictable variables. What Alabama's statistics suggest is that the Crimson Tide currently has the SEC's best defense. At the end of September, Alabama was No. 12 among SEC teams, allowing opponents to gain 5.05 yards per play. By the end of October, Alabama had moved up to No. 7, despite average yards allowed increasing to 5.45 yards. In November games only, Alabama was the SEC's No. 1 at 3.99 yards. Georgia was No. 3 at 4.66 yards. Based only on SEC contests, Georgia has a slight edge in the stat at No. 3 to Alabama at No. 5. The difference is .18-yard.
Georgia remains the better rush defense team. Whether that is because of better talent or because Wommack's Swarm is willing to sometimes yield, to minimize explosive plays, is a worthy debate. Against SEC competition, Alabama has a far better passing defense. The Alabama Crimson Tide leads the SEC in Passing Defense Rating; Georgia is No. 6.
Make no mistake, Kirby Smart, as always, has a strong defense. It just isn't as good as Kane Wommack's Alabama Crimson Tide Swarm Defense. Brian Fremeau's opponent-adjusted Defensive Efficiency Rating has Alabama as the nation's No. 10, while the Georgia Bulldogs are No. 24.
In other statistical comparisons, Georgia has one solid advantage over the Crimson Tide. In Fremeau's Special Teams Efficiency, Georgia is No. 10 nationally. Alabama is No. 104. In other important statistics, Alabama leads in sacks and tackles for a loss. Georgia is last in the SEC in both categories.
Note: All the stats in this post not provided by Brian Fremeau, were provided by cfbstats.com