Alabama delivers unstoppable brilliance in SEC championship game

MFB

12/4/21 MFB Alabama vs Georgia SEC Championship Alabama quarterback Bryce Young (9) Photo by Evan PilatCrimson Tide Photos / UA Athletics

There was a moment in the first half of the SEC championship game that defined this latest soul-stomping victory for Alabama against Georgia.

It wasn’t when Alabama quarterback Bryce Young scrambled for an 11-yard touchdown with 26 seconds left before halftime, although that was the most important score of No.3 Alabama’s 41-24 stunner here in Atlanta and — for those who track such things — the Crimson Tide’s second consecutive half of football to feature a Young-led touchdown drive with less than 30 seconds on the clock.

Seconds before Young’s run, and across the entire length of the field, Alabama receiver John Metchie III was walking slowly to the locker room with two trainers when he stopped and turned. Metchie injured his leg earlier on the drive, and his night was over, but he wanted to enjoy this team that had grown together through unfamiliar adversity at its finest moment.

Alabama’s offense came alive in the final two minutes of regulation against rival Auburn, and then that same offense came of age in the first half of the SEC championship game against a defense for Georgia, coached by former Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart, that many thought before this night was one of the best of all time.

It wasn’t. Can confirm.

RELATED: Alabama needs no drama, pounds No.1 Georgia

RELATED: Saban gives injury status on John Metchie III

Oh, the pain of being a Georgia Bulldog, the perennial pet pooch of the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Despite a loss to Texas A&M earlier in the season, Alabama is back in the College Football Playoff once again, and this time it’s bringing a quarterback who … [holds breath] … might be better than the others before him. Not sure about all that just yet, but we have seen enough to know that the California Kid is good enough to be considered the best in the country this season.

Give him the Heisman, and invite Alabama linebacker Will Anderson Jr. to the party to be the muscle.

Young gave college football “The Drive” to save the Iron Bowl, and then he gave Georgia the business to deliver the SEC championship, Alabama’s second in consecutive years and third in the last four. The Bulldogs’ defense was brilliant all season. Against Young, they looked like untrained puppies.

Now at least they’re house broken.

Georgia, despite the loss, should be in the College Football Playoff, which means the odds favor a rematch of this game in the national championship. Not to look ahead, but it’s on Monday, Jan.10, 2022, in Indianapolis. In between, Alabama will play either the first Group of 5 team to make the College Football Playoff (Cincinnati), the team that Cincinnati defeated on the road (Notre Dame) or Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan. The College Football Playoff committee selects the four-team field at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

Then it’s on to New York for the most prestigious individual trophy in American sports. Famously, a quarterback for the University of Alabama has never won it. This should be the year. Young had his Heisman moment against Auburn, and then underscored it with a history-making performance in the first half against Georgia.

Brilliance radiated from every throw, and this pro-Georgia stadium couldn’t believe it. They came for a coronation, but instead watched a new King of Crimson grab the scepter and take the throne. Young had 286 passing yards in the first half on 17 throws, which is a preposterous statistic that averages to 16.8 yards per pass. His two touchdown passes in the first half were perfect (a 67-yard burn to Jameson Williams and a 13-yarder to Metchie). It was the most passing yards for a half in the history of the SEC championship game, breaking a mark set by Auburn’s Cam Newton.

It’s this simple. If Georgia’s defense is one the best this game has ever seen, then what Young did in the first half was one of the great offensive performances in the history of this sport.

Young’s final stat line: 26 of 44 for 421 yards and three touchdowns, including that 55-yard bomb to Williams to start the second half. Alabama’s sophomore quarterback didn’t throw an interception, but everyone knew this game was officially over when Alabama safety Jordan Battle stepped in front of an errant throw by Georgia’s Stetson Bennett and returned the pick 42 yards for a score. It was nighty-night, Georgia, after that, but those Dawgs will not find sleep anytime soon.

The scars on Georgia from the 2018 SEC championship game still haven’t healed. The pain from the 2017 national championship game is an eternal burn. Now this? Georgia, if not now, then when?

The No.1-ranked Bulldogs entered the SEC championship game having defeated their SEC schedule by an average margin of victory of more than 24 points per game. SEC teams combined to score 66 points against Georgia before Alabama took it easy in the second half, and cruised on back to Tuscaloosa with 41 on the board.

Will Smart’s Georgia ever beat Nick Saban’s Alabama? It’s fair to wonder that question now after everything these eyes have seen since that cold and rainy night in Atlanta when another young quarterback a long way from home broke the hearts of Georgia with the play this game now calls, simply, “2nd and 26.” No miracles needed in 2021. Just something this All-Everything Georgia team lacked, a quarterback that could not be stopped.

No one was listening when Saban said earlier this season that it’s tough to play a good team that has something to prove. At the time, Saban was talking about Alabama’s loss to Texas A&M, but that same energy poured through Alabama in college football’s marquee conference championship game.

Metchie, the receiver who delivered the greatest tackle of an SEC championship game in 2020, channeled that spirit again in the first half against Georgia. He was wide open for a crucial play on 3rd and 10 moments before his injury. It would be his final catch of the game, but the beginning of another celebration.

Joseph Goodman is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group. He’s on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr. His new book, “We Want Bama: A season of hope and the making of Nick Saban’s ‘ultimate team’,” is on sale wherever books are sold.

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.