TUSCALOOSA, AL – Texas got toasted, Indiana got tested and Georgia simply sent a message to all of college football: Once again, the sport’s best team belongs to Kirby Smart and resides in Athens.
Overcoming a 14-10 halftime-deficit, soon-to-be-top-ranked Georgia outslugged host, seventh-ranked Alabama 20-17 in the latest iteration of the SEC’s most physical rivalry.
More importantly, the Bulldogs looked nothing like the groups that whiffed in their previous two College Football Playoff appearances and much more like the terror squads Smart deployed at the onset of this decade.
Georgia -- which already has annihilated Oklahoma, last seen Saturday afternoon surfing the Red River Rivalry over Texas, and vanquished Vanderbilt -- forged ahead not only
with the most inviting path to the SEC championship game but to the No. 1 seed in the CFP.
Pickup-driving, win-amassing Gunner Stockton guided the Georgia offense with aplomb. The running game showed mettle with two starters out, amassing and keying the go-ahead drive in the fourth quarter that finished with a Peyton Woodring field goal with 5:25 left.
The leading rushing was Dwight Phillips, who carried 17 times for 120 yards and a touchdown. Bo Walker added 69 yards on his 10 carriers.
But it was Stockton that made most of the big plays. He finished 18 of 22 for 249 yards and a touchdown. His 17-yard throw on Elyiss Williams on third down extended the final drive of the game that resulted in the Bulldogs running out the clock.
The win was just the third in 10 games for Georgia coach Kirby Smart against the school where he was defensive coordinator under Nick Saban before returning to his alma mater to lead the Bulldogs. The victory also ended a drought in Tuscaloosa for Georgia. It's last win at Alabama came in 2007.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Georgia, Gunner Stockton show in Alabama win that it is college football's best team
