Alabama QB credits Georgia for stopping ‘best offense in the country’
ATLANTA — Ty Simpson left Mercedes-Benz Stadium battered, beaten and burned by the “Fire, Passion and Energy” Kirby Smart has preached throughout the season.
Georgia (12-1) claimed SEC superiority by repeating as league champions in a 28-7 win over Alabama, clinching a first-round bye and likely Sugar Bowl trip as the No 2 or No 3 seed.
The UGA defense held Alabama to a season-low 209 yards of offense, as Simpson was 19-of-39 passing for 212 yards with a touchdown and an interception that led to a Georgia touchdown.
“We have a standard as an offense in general; actually, we know we’re the best offense in the country,” Simpson said of the offensive struggles. “Then when we don’t show it, it’s very frustrating, especially times when we’re just a couple things away.
“Like I said, credit to Georgia’s defense, right? They had a good plan. That’s pretty much simple as that.”
Simpson said that plan involved a lot of defensive pressure, in relentless fashion.
“They did a good job of bringing some pressures, right? Almost like they were bringing somebody on almost every down,” said Simpson, who was sacked three times and kept off schedule as the Tide finished with negative yards rushing (minus-3) for the first time in its regular-season history.
“But we kind of knew what they were expecting to a sense of what they did in the second half last game. They played tight coverage. Got to make some throws, some catches, got to do the little things right….”
Among those things, Simpson said, was recognizing blitzes he had seen before — but not necessarily from Georgia.
“They had some copycat blitzes from people that we’ve seen before,” Simpson said. “We picked it up some. But I got to be better at just communicating in general, right?”
Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer was proud of his team’s effort in a game filled with physicality and familiarity.
“You got two teams out there, know each other pretty well over the last two seasons, what the strengths are,” said DeBoer, who’s now 6-2 against top-10 ranked teams.
“Two teams that fight. Two teams that play hard. Got to this point, laid it out on the line. I’m proud of our guys. I’ll never question the heart, the fight, what these guys bring.”
Alabama (10-3), ranked No. 9 entering the game, now finds itself fighting for its College Football Playoff life, as the selection committee must sort out the final at-large teams. No. 10 Notre Dame (10-2) and No. 12 Miami (10-2) sat idle.
About the Author
Mike is in his 10th season covering SEC and Georgia athletics for AJC-DawgNation and has 25 years of CFB experience. Mike is a Heisman Trophy voter and former Football Writers President who was named the National FWAA Beat Writer of the Year in January, 2018.
