Smart satisfied after Bulldogs 'scored enough points' to top Tide — SkimNews
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- Georgia beat No. 6 Alabama 20-17 at Bryant-Denny Stadium for its first regular-season win in Tuscaloosa since a 2007 overtime victory, snapping a five-game regular-season losing streak to the Crimson Tide
- Kirby Smart earned his first regular-season win against Alabama in his 11th season as Georgia's coach, after serving as Nick Saban's defensive coordinator from 2008-2015 and helping win four national championships
- Gunner Stockton completed 18 of 22 passes for 249 yards with a touchdown and interception and added a 14-yard rushing TD; his 5-of-6, 146-yard line on throws of 15-plus air yards were career highs per ESPN Research
- Dwight Phillips Jr. rushed for a career-best 120 yards on 17 carries, filling in for injured backs Nate Frazier (ribs) and Chauncey Bowens (lower leg)
- Peyton Woodring broke a 17-17 tie with a 23-yard field goal at 5:25 remaining after hooking a 39-yard attempt on the prior possession
- On the game's final possession, KJ Bolden broke up a deep pass into the end zone that Alabama argued should have drawn pass interference, then teamed with Valdin Sone to sack Keelon Russell for a 9-yard loss that pushed the Tide out of field-goal range
- The result likely vaults Georgia to No. 1 after Texas lost to Oklahoma 27-24 the same day
Why it matters: The Bulldogs' win reorders the College Football Playoff race: with top-ranked Texas losing to Oklahoma the same day, Georgia — already No. 2 — is poised to reclaim No. 1. Smart, Saban's former defensive coordinator, has now beaten Alabama in back-to-back meetings after a decade of futility, and the defensive stand on the final drive (a broken-up deep ball followed by a sack that knocked Alabama out of field-goal range) was the decisive sequence.
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