Alabama Crimson Tide claim SEC football championship with seventh straight win over Georgia

ATLANTA — Some things don’t change, as in Alabama’s mastery of Georgia and the Crimson Tide spending yet another postseason in the College Football Playoff.

Sophomore quarterback Bryce Young threw three touchdown passes and rushed for another Saturday night to lead Alabama to a 41-24 beatdown of No. 1 Georgia in the SEC championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Alabama (12-1) won for the seventh straight time over Georgia, with four of those wins coming right here in Atlanta either in the SEC championship game or national championship game. Nick Saban moved to 4-0 against his former assistant, Kirby Smart, whose Bulldogs never had any answers for Young and an Alabama offense that rolled up 536 total yards.

Saban said being tabbed as underdogs in Saturday’s game was extra motivation for the Tide.

“I think what these guys really wanted to gain was more respect,” Saban said. “Not just the fact that they were underdogs, because I think we had a tremendous amount of respect for Georgia, their team and what they accomplished. But you guys gave us a lot of really positive rat poison. The rat poison that you usually give us is usually fatal, but the rat poison that you put out there this week was yummy.”

Georgia’s defense, stocked with future first-round NFL draft picks and considered by many to be one of the best in college football in recent years, had allowed a total of seven touchdowns in 48 quarters entering the game. But Alabama scored three touchdowns in the first half, and what was a 24-17 halftime lead grew to 38-17 early in the fourth quarter when safety Jordan Battle took back a Stetson Bennett interception 42 yards for a touchdown.

The SEC title was Alabama’s sixth in the past eight years, and the Crimson Tide will be heading back to the College Football Playoff for the seventh time in eight years, potentially as the No. 1 seed.

This was the first time Alabama had been an underdog in 92 straight games, dating back to a 38-10 win over Georgia in 2015.

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