No. 4 Alabama hosts No. 2 Georgia Saturday night in one of the vital necessary video games of the 2024 school soccer season. This seismic conflict will go a great distance towards figuring out not solely the ultimate SEC standings, however the Faculty Soccer Playoff race.
That tends to occur when the Crimson Tide and the Bulldogs take the sphere towards each other. This marks the 2 powers’ first regular-season matchup since 2020, although they’ve performed a lot within the interim. From 2021-23, Alabama and Georgia confronted off twice within the SEC Championship Sport and as soon as within the Faculty Soccer Playoff Nationwide Championship.
Alabama received the convention each instances — together with final season’s conflict that despatched the Crimson Tide to the playoff — however Georgia gained the benefit in 2022 with the nationwide title on the road. That was the primary time the Bulldogs had bested Alabama since 2007. The Crimson Tide maintain an 8-1 benefit in matchups since.
However that document got here with coach Nick Saban patrolling the sidelines. Georgia coach Kirby Sensible was 1-5 towards his former boss. Now that Saban’s retired and Kalen DeBoer has stepped up in Tuscaloosa, Saturday’s sport will definitely function a distinct really feel.
Listed here are three keys for Alabama if it desires to present DeBoer a cornerstone win early in his tenure.
1. Unleash Jalen Milroe
Milroe is quietly placing collectively an outstanding season below DeBoer and his employees, and Saturday may function a severe coming-out celebration for the Crimson Tide star. Alabama will definitely want him to be at his finest if it desires to return away with a win. The excellent news is that Milroe has proven regular enchancment and offers his crew benefits towards Georgia’s protection.
An enormous a part of Milroe’s sport is his capacity to make performs along with his legs. He is top-of-the-line speeding quarterbacks in school soccer, with 156 yards on the bottom via three video games. Milroe has posted two speeding touchdowns in every of the previous three video games, which implies he has already reached half of his speeding landing complete from the 2023 season.
Although it is a small pattern measurement, Georgia’s protection has been prone to dual-threat quarterbacks this season. Kentucky’s Brock Vandagriff rushed 9 instances for 70 yards, adjusting for misplaced sack yardage, towards the Bulldogs a few weeks in the past. That comes out to round 7.8 yards per carry, together with an extended rush of 17 yards.
Georgia will definitely have Milroe’s speeding capacity highlighted, circled, and underlined on the scouting report, however that does not imply Alabama ought to toss it out of the playbook. There are many artistic methods to get him concerned within the run sport that ought to hold the protection trustworthy, and his creditability as a runner can create benefits elsewhere on the sphere.
2. Shut down the run sport
Georgia’s operating again steady is deep, even with No. 2 possibility Roderick Robinson II anticipated to overlook the sport because of harm. The Bulldogs have all the time constructed themselves across the run sport offensively, utilizing their ground-and-pound method to open up the remainder of the scheme.
So it tracks that Georgia’s offense has struggled this 12 months when it hasn’t been capable of run the ball constantly. Within the first half of Georgia’s season opener towards Clemson, the Bulldogs averaged lower than three yards per carry and managed solely six factors, courtesy of two discipline objectives. Granted, that was with out beginning operating again Trevor Etienne, who missed the sport with a suspension.
Freshman Nate Frazier crammed the void within the second half, bursting via with seven carries for 54 yards and one landing. The Bulldogs had been capable of transfer the ball extra successfully and scored a landing on all however one among their 5 non-game-ending drives within the second half.
It was an identical story towards Kentucky. Etienne, totally returned and built-in into Georgia’s offense, completed with a decent 79 yards speeding, however 17 of them got here on one carry. Take that away, and he solely managed 3.4 yards per keep on 18 makes an attempt. No different Georgia operating again managed greater than 5 yards, and the Bulldogs averaged fewer than 4 yards per carry as a crew.
Georgia eked out a 13-12 win, its lowest level complete since a 10-3 victory towards Clemson on Sept. 2, 2022. All this to say, stopping the run sport is essential for Alabama in halting Georgia’s offense.
3. Play ball management
This goes hand in hand with stopping Georgia’s floor assault, however Alabama should do some work right here as effectively. DeBoer’s offensive scheme is based on downfield pictures and producing explosive performs, and the Crimson Tide should not stray from that Saturday.
Constructing a complete sport plan round that may play into Georgia’s power, although. The Bulldogs have allowed simply two offensive performs of 20 or extra yards. They’re holding opponents to a paltry 3.5 yards per play towards a schedule that features wins over one preseason top-15 crew and an SEC opponent.
Georgia’s secondary is stuffed with ballhawks — headlined by security Malaki Starks — and the linebackers are athletic sufficient to run with nearly anybody on the sphere. That stated, the Bulldogs have been surprisingly prone to opposing speeding assaults.
Georgia is permitting 110.7 yards per sport, which is not dangerous in any respect, nevertheless it ranks forty second nationally and ninth within the SEC, behind groups like Arkansas and South Carolina. And Georgia has but to see a backfield as proficient as Alabama’s.
Operating backs Jam Miller and Justice Haynes are averaging over 9 yards per carry and have solely misplaced eight yards between them. As outlined above, Milroe is a large menace to get entangled within the run sport, and Alabama’s offensive line is transferring opponents off the ball successfully this 12 months.
Kentucky offered a pleasant mannequin for Alabama. The Wildcats sustained drives, holding the ball for 35:02 of the sport in comparison with Georgia’s 24:58. Kentucky additionally almost doubled Georgia’s first downs, crossing the marker 23 instances.
Once more, Georgia solely managed 13 factors with its restricted alternatives. That vaunted protection did sufficient to scratch out a win, however Alabama ought to have extra weapons than Kentucky did and might generate explosive performs if it lulls the Bulldogs to sleep.
