Alabama’s chances of winning the SEC championship, and possibly making it to the College Football Playoff, were six feet from ending.
The No. 1 Bulldogs had cut No. 8 Alabama’s lead to 20-17 on Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Crimson Tide were driving but faced a third-and-2 on Georgia’s 25. A stop likely would have resulted in a field goal and six-point lead, but Georgia’s offense was rolling, so three more points might have just been a speed bump on the Bulldogs’ road to a third consecutive SEC title.
And then quarterback Jalen Milroe did something magical.
First, Milroe pumped his arm to pass, only to bring the ball back down. Then, stepped up in the pocket to avoid pressure. As Milroe moved toward the line of scrimmage, Georgia linebacker C.J. Allen, who was tasked with spying on Milroe, moved forward to try to tackle him before he could get the drive-saving first down. Allen didn’t see Isaiah Bond crossing behind him. Milroe did and conjured up some Patrick Mahomes magic with a shovel pass. That Bond could even see the ball was amazing. He caught it and got to the 13-yard line. Alabama scored three plays later to take a 27-17 lead with 5:47 remaining. Alabama would go on to win 27-24 with Milroe named MVP.
“Singular focus,” said Milroe, who completed 13 of 23 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns. “That’s the biggest motto that we had going into the game is all about singular focus and doing our job.”
Georgia respected Milroe’s ability to make plays as a runner. Though Milroe was sacked four times, often Georgia’s rushers would try to form a pocket to keep him from doing what he did, keeping a play alive with his movement, such as that on that key shovel pass.
“It’s all about response,” Milroe said. “The biggest thing that we have on this team that contributes to any success is the FAMILY acronym: Forget about me, I love you. I think we do a really good job about that. It was about singular focus each and every drive.”
After Georgia scored a final time to cut Alabama’s lead to 27-24, Milroe ended any hopes of a rally with two runs totaling 39 yards.
The first came on first-and-10 at the 25-yard line when Milroe simply burst through a hole on the left for 30 yards, his longest in the game. He slide just before going out of bounds to keep the clock on. Two plays later, Milroe faked a pitch to the right before barreling through a hole that was left in the middle because many of the Bulldogs’ defenders bit on the pitch. Milroe was tackled at the 34-yard line.
“With how good of an athlete he is, it’s a real big challenge,” Georgia’s Smael Mondon said of trying to stop Milroe. “As far as defending him, some plays he did good on, some plays could have fitted better on. That last drive, just got it fitted better.”
Alabama’s last two drives weren’t the only ones praised by coach Nick Saban. He said the final drive of the first half, which ended with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Jermaine Burton, was also key. It extended the Tide’s lead to 10 points at 17-7 with 48 seconds remaining.
“We had two hellacious drives in this game, all right, that this guy (Milroe) contributed to, and some receivers made some great catches, too,” Saban said.
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