Alabama-Georgia SEC Championship Game Becomes Instant Classic

In one of the most epic back-and-forth football games of college football in the SEC, and perhaps football in general, the Alabama Crimson Tide held on to knock off their counterpart and winners of the East Division, the Georgia Bulldogs 32-28 on Saturday night in Atlanta.

A game that saw Alabama as a seven-point favorite turned out to be closer than expected, despite the fact that many people were banking on a Crimson Tide win in convincing fashion.

With the win, Alabama will now move on to face the undefeated Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the BCS National Championship game. Georgia may likely head to the Cotton Bowl to face the Texas Longhorns.

It can certainly be said that this game was everything is was billed to be and more. Many wondered if there would be much offense with two teams stacked with NFL-caliber defenders. But running backs Eddie Lacy and T.J. Yeldon each rushed for over 150 yards for Alabama, and Aaron Murray was able to pick the Alabama defense apart, especially late in the game.

Georgia freshman Todd Gurley ran for 122 yards on 23 carries. including two touchdowns, but it wouldn’t be enough. Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper had 128 yards on eight catches, but his touchdown grab late in the game to seal the deal for Alabama will be his most memorable moment.

Georgia had a chance to win the game on the final drive, but Murray’s completed pass in bounds with no timeouts doomed the Bulldogs extremely close to the Alabama goal-line.

An extremely controversial moment occured in the second quarter when Alabama defender Quinton Dial blindsided Murray with the crown of his helmet after Murray had just thrown an interception. The blatant helmet-to-helmet contact was not called, and would have kept an important Georgia drive alive had it been.

None the less, Alabama was able to win this game the same way they’ve won most of their games this season, and that’s with their domination of the running game. Georgia defenders did make key plays, but couldn’t find any consistency with their success.

Dan Irwin is a sports writer for Rant Sports.  Follow him on Twitter @ danirwin_rant or on Facebook at “facebook.com/danirwin.sports“.