Nov 29, 20183 min read

CFB: SEC Championship Preview

History of the Series: Georgia looked like they were going to take down the mighty Alabama team last year in the national title game, but fell just short, 26-23, in overtime. Nearly an entire year later, and the Bulldogs will get another opportunity. The Crimson Tide hold a 39-25-4 lead in this series, and have won each of the last four games, dating back to 2008. Prior to that, Georgia won the previous three matchups. There are some players like Jonathan Ledbetter and Natrez Patrick from the Bulldogs who were freshman for the 2015 game between these two teams. Alabama's Damien Harris and Christian Miller were also on the sideline. The Tide went into Georgia and won that 38-10.

Season Reviews: Georgia has been consistently good all year long, and have several players to keep an eye on. On the offensive side, that begins with QB Jake Fromm, who has the second best QBR in the SEC behind only QB Tua Tagovailoa (we'll get to him in a second). Fromm has thrown for 2,061 yards, 20 touchdowns, and just five interceptions. In the backfield with him is RB D'Andre Swift. He has totaled 857 yards on 125 carries. For Alabama, Tagovailoa has arguably been the best player in the entire country. His numbers are off the charts (2,865 yards, 31 touchdowns, two picks) and he's only thrown a handful of passes in the fourth quarter. Both defenses have been dominate, but Alabama (-3.7 points allowed per game) has a slight edge.

Why Alabama Will Win: Alabama is going to win this game because they have the best quarterback (and quite possible the best player) in the entire country. Tua Tagovailoa has looked incredible all year long, and he'll carry them to a victory if he can throw for 250+ yards. He has reached the 250-yard plateau seven times this season, and Alabama has won those games by a combined 253 points and an average of 36.1 points. That's difficult to wrap your mind around. The closest game in that stretch was a 45-23 win against 22nd ranked Texas A&M. Now, obviously Georgia is a better team than anyone Alabama has faced thus far so expect the game to be closer, but if Tagovailoa has 250+ yards, the Tide will win by more than a touchdown.

Why Georgia Will Win: The best hope for the Bulldogs is making sure Alabama doesn't score early. The way to do that will be put pressure on Tagovailoa and then run (and protect) the ball on offense. Good thing for Georgia is they do both of those things pretty well. The Bulldogs have only allowed 21+ points on four occasions and have had a 100+ yards rusher in each of the last five outings. Four of which were from Swift, which came to a climax with a season-high 186 yards in a 27-10 win over Auburn a few weeks ago. Georgia is 11-0 over the last two years when they have a 100+ yard rusher and hold their opponent under 24 points. If the Dawgs are going to win this game, they're going to have to do those two things.

Staff Picks:

Caleb Henderson: Alabama (41-27)

Charles Post: Alabama (35-25)

Chinedum Wejinya: Alabama (28-21)

Greg Schwochow: Alabama (45-13)

Max Heningburg: Alabama (42-28)

Tyler Taylor: Alabama (41-20)

Raven Martin: Georgia (34-24)

Player of the Game:

1. Tua Tagovailoa (QB)

2. Damien Harris (RB)

3. Jake Fromm (QB)