Alabama vs. Georgia Prediction, Game Preview

The last time we saw Alabama (3-1) take on Georgia (4-0), Aaron Murray had a chance to take the Bulldogs to a 2012 SEC championship win and a shot at Notre Dame for the national title. The last time the Crimson Tide went to Athens? 2008 winning 41-30. This time around, it might be a preview of the 2015 SEC title game with the playoff berth likely on the line. Check out the Alabama vs. Georgia prediction and preview.

Alabama vs. Georgia Game Preview

Broadcast

Date: Saturday, Oct. 3
Game Time: 3:30 pm
Venue: Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia
Network: CBS

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Why You Need To Care

All of a sudden, Alabama can’t play anymore, Nick Saban should quit, and they should disband the program.

The quarterback play has been a little bit shaky, and the five-turnover loss to Ole Miss was a stunner, but most of all, Alabama is actually an underdog coming into the game.

Is it really possible for the Crimson Tide to start out an SEC season 0-2? The last time that happened was 1990, but there’s still more than enough talent and more than enough promise and potential to go on a big-time run and get right back into the national title picture.

[MORE: Alabama’s Record Streak Snapped Heading Into UGA Game]

With relatively easy wins over a great Wisconsin team, a good Middle Tennessee team, and ULM, there’s no reason to jump off the train just yet, but a loss to Georgia would fire off the panic sirens. There would still be plenty of time to rebound and get in the SEC title chase – losing to a team from the East wouldn’t be a deathblow – but it would be about as disastrous as it gets for a program that hasn’t lost two regular season games since 2010.

This is Georgia’s big moment to take over in the spotlight. Considering all the love Ole Miss received for its win over Alabama, the Dawgs might deserve top five consideration – if not top two – if they can beat the Crimson Tide impressively, and they just might have the team to do it.

QB Greyson Lambert is the hottest quarterback in college football, the running game is stellar, and the defense has been utterly dominant, destroying South Carolina and Vanderbilt for a 2-0 SEC start. Win this week, beat Tennessee in Knoxville next week, and all of a sudden, the world opens up with a relatively easy road the rest of the way – at least as long as Auburn keeps having problems.

This is the game the program needs to have. This is the time for head coach Mark Richt to pull off an adult table win that would signify that all roads to the East title go through Athens.

Why Alabama Will Win

Grind it, grind it, grind it. How do you win a nasty game on the road in front of a frothing-at-the-mouth crowd and against a jacked up defense? You run, you keep running, and you keep running some more. Alabama is having issues with its quarterback play at the moment as it tries finding some semblance of consistency between Jake Coker and Cooper Bateman, but the ball and the game can be taken out of their hands if the offensive line does its job like it did against Wisconsin and for long stretches against Ole Miss.

South Carolina had some success running the ball, but the defense couldn’t come up with a stop. Georgia isn’t controlling the clock so far, mainly because it doesn’t need to, holding on to the ball for a mere 26 minutes a game. If Alabama can roll will long, sustained, controlled drives, and it plays a conservative, physical game, it should be able to neutralize the Dawg defensive front and keep Lambert and Nick Chubb on the sidelines for long stretches.

Why Georgia Will Win

Alabama can be beaten by short-to-midrange passes, and that’s exactly what the Bulldogs are going to do.

Joel Stave didn’t do anything down the field in Wisconsin’s loss to the Crimson Tide, but he was able to connect on 67% of his throws and keep things moving by dinking and dunking. Chad Kelly might have cranked up a miracle play and a well-executed deep pass, but Ole Miss was able to get the ball out of his hands in a hurry and produce when the ground attack wasn’t operating. Considering Greyson Lambert has missed two passes in two games and is connecting on 77% of his throws on the year, he should have decent success keeping the offense moving.

Defensively, Georgia has to get into the backfield. It didn’t do much to hit the quarterback in the last two games, but any pressure on the Alabama quarterbacks will get the job done. Coker isn’t making enough plays down the field, and if he has to go to his first option, the Bulldogs linebackers will swallow it up – don’t expect any big yards after the catch. In the last three games, Georgia hasn’t allowed a quarterback to complete half of his throws, and while that won’t happen this week, it’ll dare Bama to win through the air.

Player Who Matters

How good has Greyson Lambert been? In his last two games against South Carolina and Southern, he has completed 33-of-35 passes for 476 yards and five scores without a pick. He’s getting time to work, he’s not taking any big chances, and he’s taking advantage of defenses freaking out about stopping Nick Chubb and the Georgia ground game. With 12 straight 100-yard games, Chubb is walking with the gods, being thrown in the same sentence as Herschel Walker in terms of production, but this will be his biggest test against an Alabama run defense that’s allowed a total of 227 yards on the year.

Can Jake Coker finally make everyone believe that he’s the type of quarterback who can lead the way to a national title? He hasn’t had a whole bunch of help from a receiving corps that’s not getting open and drops too many balls, but he has to keep on firing against defenses that keep on challenging him. Derrick Henry and Kenyan Drake have to have big days running the ball for the Crimson Tide to win, but this might be Coker’s game.

What’s Going To Happen?

Everyone once in a while a great program steps up and shows why it’s among the elite in the first place. Alabama will thrive on the road with a strong, consistent effort from the offense, and a nasty performance from a defense that won’t allow a thing on the ground and will get to Lambert for at least four sacks. Have you ever seen Alabama play with a sense of desperation? Now you will.