No. 2 Alabama outlasts No. 4 Georgia in second-half thriller

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — A couple of powerful lessons were learned here at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday night. One, Alabama is still a reckoning force in the SEC under first-year coach Kalen DeBoer. Two, games are 60 minutes long, and the second 30 is just as important as the first.

The Georgia Bulldogs won that second 30 minutes and almost executed the biggest comeback in a top-five matchup in the history of college football in the process. The trouble was, when Georgia scored a go-ahead touchdown with 2:31 to play, it took Alabama all of 13 seconds to regain the lead.

Carson Beck’s 67-yard touchdown pass to Dillon Bell was followed on the next play by a 75-yard scoring play on a throw from Jalen Milroe to Ryan Williams. Followed by a two-point conversion, that left the Bulldogs with 2:18 to make up a 41-34 deficit.

And they nearly did.

The Bulldogs made it all the way to the Alabama 20 with 49 seconds and two timeouts remaining. But Carson Beck’s first-down pass for Colbie Young in the end zone was intercepted by Crimson Tide defensive back Zabien Brown. That play allowed Alabama to escape disaster and robbed Georgia of glory in one of the greatest games ever played between these two SEC powerhouses.

Undefeated in 42 consecutive regular-season games, the No. 2-ranked Bulldogs (3-1, 1-1 SEC) instead lost in their try for a 43rd. No. 4 Alabama (4-0, 1-0) recorded its first SEC win under DeBoer, in his first season as Nick Saban’s successor. The game was played before a sellout crowd of 101,821 at Bryant-Denny Stadium and a captive, prime-time audience tuning in on ABC to see the matchup of the season thus far.

Milroe finished with 491 total yards and 374 on 27-of-33 passing and four touchdowns. Ryan Williams, Alabama’s fabulous 17-year-old freshman, caught six passes for 177 yards. Included in that was the 75-yard winning play in which he beat Julian Humphrey for a contested deep ball down the right sideline and then outmaneuvered Humphrey and safety KJ Bolden for the final 25 yards needed to score.

Beck was 27-of-50 passing for 439 and three scores. But his final play of the night was his third interception. Arian Smith led the Bulldogs with 132 yards receiving and a score. Alabama outgained Georgia 547 to 519.

Milroe was nearly perfect in a first half that saw the Crimson Tide race to 28-0 lead in the first 17 minutes of play and head into the halftime locker room ahead 30-7. A junior from Katy, Texas, Milroe toyed with the Bulldogs’ vaunted defense. He accounted for nearly all 355 of Bama’s yards over the first two quarters of play on 199 yards passing and 106 rushing.

Milroe completed his first 11 passes, and his 12th was ruled incomplete only after video review proved the low ball to wide receiver Germie Berrnard had slipped through his arms and hit the ground. Milroe jogged to the locker room having completed 18 of 21 passes with a touchdown. He’d finish with 374 yards on 27-of-33 passing.

Alabama’s dominating first-half performance came against a Georgia defense that had not allowed a touchdown all season before Saturday. Bama dispensed with that little anomaly less than five minutes into the game. They drove 70 yards in eight plays on the game’s opening drive and scored on Milroe’s untouched run around left end.

And so it went in the first half. Alabama scored TDs on its second, third and fourth possessions. The Tide never punted in the first half. They turned the ball over on downs once and literally turned it over with an interception another time. The end result of the latter was a safety when Beck was flagged for intentional grounding in how own end zone.

Trailing 30-7 at halftime, Georgia decided to go for it on every offensive play in the second half. The Bulldogs were a perfect 5-for-5 on fourth-down conversions in the second half. They also attempted two-point conversions after all but their final touchdown.

With the loss, Georgia’s streak of consecutive regular-season wins was snapped at 42 games. And its unflattering ledger against Alabama grew even uglier. The Bulldogs now have lost nine of their past 10 against the Crimson Tide. Coach Kirby Smart, who has dominated virtually every other opponent during his nine-year tenure, falls to 1-6 against Alabama, where he coached for nine years under Nick Saban.

Adding insult to injury, this loss didn’t come against Smart’s mentor.

The game could not have started better for Alabama. Receiving the opening kickoff after Georgia deferred the winning coin toss, the Tide put together an, eight-play, 70-yard scoring drive that required only one third-down conversion along the way. That one was significant for it came on third-and-2 after the Bulldogs had forced an incompletion on third-and-7. Jalon Walker jumped offside on the play, nullifying the stop and giving Bama an easier second shot.

That would be the last time the Crimson Tide would need any assistance from the referees. They chewed up the Georgia defense the rest of the half.

Jennings, SMU drub Florida State in ACC debut

Kevin Jennings completed 16 of 23 passes for 254 yards and threw three touchdown passes to lead host SMU to a 42-16 win over Florida State on Saturday night in Dallas.

The Mustangs (4-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) won their first-ever ACC contest. Former President George W. Bush attended and helped conduct the game’s coin toss.

SMU amassed 467 yards of total offense and forced three turnovers to beat Florida State (1-4, 1-3) in the first meeting between the programs.

The Mustangs led 14-9 at halftime before breaking the game open with 14 points in each of the final two quarters.

Florida State quarterback DJ Uiagalelei struggled once again, completing only 12 of 30 passes for 222 yards. Uiagalelei threw a pair of touchdown passes but also had three interceptions. Kobe Wilson snatched the last of that trio of giveaways and returned it 82 yards for a touchdown to cap the scoring.

Jonathan McGill and Ahmad Walker had the other two interceptions as SMU also held FSU to 75 yards rushing.

On the flipside, the Mustangs ran for 213 yards, led by Brashard Smith’s 129. Smith added a touchdown on 17 carries. Roderick Daniels Jr. ran for 53 yards and a score on 15 carries.

Florida State, which hosts No. 17 Clemson next week, remained even with SMU for a large part of the first half after Uiagalelei found Kentron Poitier for a 9-yard touchdown.

Jennings’ 42-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Hudson gave SMU the lead for good at 14-7 with 10:20 left in the second quarter.

Jennings then connected with RJ Maryland on an 11-yard TD and a 15-yard TD within the first 7:18 of the third quarter to give SMU a 28-9 edge.

The Mustangs will play their next three games on the road against No. 15 Louisville, Stanford and Duke.

Klubnik, Clemson blow out Stanford

Cade Klubnik threw touchdown passes to three different receivers over a 5:33 span bridging the third and fourth quarters Saturday night, helping 17th-ranked Clemson pull away from visiting Stanford for a 40-14 Atlantic Coast Conference football victory.

Klubnik finished with four touchdown passes and a 34-yard TD run for the Tigers (3-1, 2-0 ACC), who have outscored opponents 165-69 since a 34-3 opening loss to Georgia.

Micah Ford rushed 15 times for a game-high 122 yards for Stanford (2-2, 1-1), which was playing on the East Coast for the second consecutive week in its first two ACC games.

Klubnik’s TD run opened the scoring and came three plays after Stanford failed on a fourth-and-1 at its own 34 on the game’s opening possession.

The Tigers’ lead became 10-0 when Nolan Hauser nailed a 20-yard field goal five plays after an Avieon Terrell interception in the end zone that denied Stanford the second time it had the ball.

The Cardinal managed to stay within 17-7 at halftime when Ashton Daniels’ 19-yard touchdown pass to Elic Ayomanor with 39 seconds left in the second period offset a 3-yard Jake Briningstool TD catch 70 seconds earlier.

A second Hauser field goal, this one from 33 yards, had Clemson up just 20-7 before Klubnik’s spree.

He threw 43 yards to Cole Turner, 34 yards to Bryant Wesco Jr. and 2 yards to Olsen Patt-Henry, the latter coming with 10:36 remaining in the game and extending the hosts’ lead to 40-7.

Stanford’s Justin Lamson threw 22 yards to Emmett Mosley V for a touchdown with 2:31 to go to cap the scoring.

Klubnik went 15-for-31 passing for 255 yards with one interception. Wesco was the Tigers’ leading receiver with 104 yards on just two catches, while Phil Mafah led Clemson rushers with 10 carries for 58 yards.