Top 10 Tuesday: The Best Alabama-Georgia Games, From Frank Sinkwich to Jalen Hurts

Alabama and Georgia have produced a variety of classic matchups in their 73 meetings ahead of the 2024 season.

 With Alabama and Georgia each setting the bar for all of college football in the last 15 years, it’s no coincidence nor any surprise that their meetings have been among the most exciting and consequential games in that time.

Thus, it’s not recency bias to suggest that half of the 10 best games ever played since Alabama and Georgia first met in 1895 have occurred in the last 12 years. The intensity of the series has certainly ratcheted up, which is ironic given their Week 5 meeting in 2024 marks the first regular-season matchup since 2020, and is only the second in the last 15 years.

Saturday’s is also the first installment of Alabama-Georgia without either Nick Saban or Mark Richt on the sideline since 1995. Kalen DeBoer’s first time coaching in the rivalry, like just about every phase of his debut season at Alabama, comes with a lofty standard to meet.

10. Oct. 31, 1942: Georgia 21, Alabama 10

Georgia’s first-ever national championship would not have been possible without the raucous final 15 minutes of its Halloween Day showdown against Alabama.

The Crimson Tide held the Bulldogs scoreless for the first three quarters, building a 10-0 lead in that time. Behind Frank Sinkwich, who threw a pair of touchdown passes to George Poschner. Georgia ripped off 21 fourth-quarter points for the comeback win.

Georgia’s rally kept the Bulldogs on pace for a Rose Bowl bid, and Sinkwich’s individual performance positioned him for his run to becoming the first Southern Heisman Trophy winner.

9. Nov. 5, 1985: Alabama 20, Georgia 16

 The 1985 season opened with Alabama visiting Sanford Stadium to little national fanfare. Neither team was ranked in the preseason polls with the Tide coming off a 5-6 finish in Ray Perkins’ second season as head coach. Georgia ascended to No. 8 by November 1984, but losses of 27-0, 21-12 and 35-18 to Florida, Auburn and Georgia Tech closed out the regular season and led to a 17-17 tie with Florida State in the Citrus Bowl.

After their Week 1 matchup, however, both Alabama and Georgia would break into the Top 20 during the 1985 campaign. Alabama played in a number of closely  contested, high-profile games that included a Top 10 showdown with Penn State in Happy Valley, and one of the most legendary entries of The Third Saturday in October a week later vs. Tennessee.

The Georgia game was actually scheduled to lead into that October stretch: Alabama at Sanford Stadium, Beaver Stadium, then vs. Tennessee on the neutral field of Birmingham’s Legion Field in three consecutive weeks. The move to Week 1 spared Alabama an especially brutal spell and helped the Tide set the tone for the season when Mike Shula led a fourth-quarter comeback that lives on in program lore.

The final 64 seconds pack in a ton of madcap football, with a punt block for a touchdown and Shula’s game-winning scoring pass to Albert Bell.

8. 2018 College Football Playoff Championship Game: Alabama 26, Georgia 23 (OT)

Subjectivity shapes any ranking like this, and this edition of Top 10 Tuesday’s most subjectively influenced rank is the 2018 National Championship Game at No. 9. To be clear, being tabbed the eighth-best entry in a rivalry with 73 all-time meetings is hardly a slight, but I acknowledge plenty of folks would slot this one higher based on the stage alone.

Coupled with the teams going to overtime and dramatic finish, with Tua Tagovailoa coming off the sideline to throw an iconic, game-winning touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith from 41 yards out, in a moment eerily similar to Todd Blackledge’s connection with Gregg Garritty in the 1983 Sugar Bowl.

The 2018 National Championship was one for the ages… and it shouldn’t have happened. I can hear some of you swearing at me through your screens, and you’re well within your right. But having failed to win its division, Alabama did not belong in a four-team playoff. I felt the same of Ohio State the year before, but the Buckeyes’ blowout loss to Clemson in a Fiesta Bowl that most certainly did not make Top 10 Tuesday’s countdown of best entries in that postseason event at least exposed the committee’s folly.

By virtue of rallying in the second half to knock off SEC champion Georgia, Alabama validated the selection committee’s decision to skip undefeated UCF — the only team to run the table in Div. I that season.  

Now that I’ve offered my obligatory soapbox spiel, there’s no doubt this was an incredible game. Alabama’s rally from a two-touchdown deficit at halftime featured a variety of heart-stopping moments and the exchange of big plays. It’s easy to forget that moments before Tagovailoa’s touchdown pass, David Bellamy broke through the line to deliver a huge sack that felt like a game-winner, for example.

7. Oct. 5, 2002: Georgia 27, Alabama 25

Seven years passed between meetings of the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide when they convened at Bryant-Denny Stadium in 2002. Alabama smashed Georgia in the previous meeting, a 31-0 romp in 1995.

This time, however, the Bulldogs opened two-touchdown leads in both the second and fourth quarters on David Greene touchdown passes of 42 and 35 yards.

Brodie Croyle led Alabama responses both times. After the Tide cut a 24-12 Georgia lead to 24-19 midway through the fourth, Charlie Peprah intercepted Greene for a go-ahead pick-six to seemingly set Alabama up for its fourth straight win over the Bulldogs – especially after the Georgia offense could not capitalize on a 42-yard Fred Gibson return on the ensuing kickoff.

But the Bulldogs defense bowed up to force a three-and-out, and a short punt provided Georgia with a mulligan to set up Billy Bennett’s go-ahead field goal and Thomas Davis’ win-sealing interception.

6. 2023 SEC Championship Game: Alabama 27, Georgia 24

Nick Saban’s career features a laundry list of wins over former assistant coaches. That the last of his 292 wins came against his star assistant put a fitting exclamation point on Saban’s legacy.

What’s more, this was perhaps the most unlikely of Saban’s wins against a former colleague.

Georgia went into the 2023 season tabbed as a favorite to roll to another national championship, which would have given Kirby Smart an accomplishment not even Saban could claim: A three-peat. As the campaign progressed, Georgia slogged its way through a handful of uninspired wins – 24-14 over South Carolina, 27-20 against Auburn and 31-23 one week prior the SEC Championship vs. Georgia Tech.

Still, the Bulldogs went into Atlanta and another face-off with Alabama as a five-point favorite. The Crimson Tide took a lopsided loss to Texas in the regular season that cast some doubt about Saban’s ability to continue dominating his former assistants, and eking out several close wins suggested this was the most flawed Alabama team in several years.

That this was one of the more flawed teams of Saban’s makes its win one of the most impressive in the coach’s legendary tenure. This game reminds me of the 2012 BCS Championship, when Jim McElwain devised a masterful strategy to attack LSU All-American safety Tyrann Mathieu with a bevy of tight-end targets.

In this instance, longtime journeyman assistant Kevin Steele put together a defensive gameplan that put the game firmly on Georgia quarterback Carson Beck’s ability to beat the Tide with his arm – a risky strategy, given Beck is an NFL-caliber quarterback. But the complete shutdown of the Bulldogs running game allowed Alabama to dictate the pace and secured Nick Saban one last SEC title.

5. Oct. 1, 1994: Alabama 29, Georgia 28

 Years before the SEC embraced air-raid principles, Alabama and Georgia engaged in an abrupt passing shootout. Crimson Tide quarterback Jay Barker threw for 396 yards, then the second-most prolific performance in Alabama history.

His 49-yard touchdown pass to Todrick Malone ignited a fourth-quarter comeback from a two-score deficit after Georgia’s Eric Zeier had thrown for four touchdowns.

The impromptu aerial assault that played out in Tuscaloosa culminated with a final drive that included Barker scrambling from a collapsed pocket for a long gain into Georgia territory. Barker later connected with Tony Johnson off of play-action to help set up Michael Proctor’s game-winning field goal.

4. 2018 SEC Championship Game: Alabama 35, Georgia 28  

Eleven months after Tua Tagovailoa replaced him in the College Football Playoff, Jalen Hurts got one last chance to shine in an Alabama uniform.  

Georgia pounced on the Crimson Tide for a 21-7 lead late in the second quarter when Jake Fromm connected with D’Andre Swift for Swift’s second score of the day. The Bulldogs were able to capitalize on a lackluster performance from Tagovailoa – but didn’t capitalize enough.

Giving up a fumble recovery for a touchdown just before halftime gave Alabama life, and a Tagovailoa long ball to Jaylen Waddle cut into another two-score Georgia lead. Tagovailoa was knocked out of the lineup in the fourth quarter, however, once again seeming to give Georgia control.

Instead, Jalen Hurts came on for a Rocky-like comeback effort. His two touchdowns in the final 5:19 powered Alabama to its third SEC championship in four years and sixth under Nick Saban, and set the stage for Hurts’ Heisman Trophy-finalist season the next season at Oklahoma.

3. 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship Game: Georgia 33, Alabama 18  

Georgia looked virtually unstoppable for 12 games heading into the 2021 SEC Championship Game. A Bulldogs defense that was garnering comparisons to the sport’s all-time best, including the Kirby Smart-coordinated Alabama defense of 2011, looked completely out of its depth when faced with Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young and the Crimson Tide.

Young’s 421 passing yards and three touchdowns powered a stunning, 41-24 rout and locked up the second Heisman for an Alabama player in as many years.

Georgia successfully adjusted in the rematch, set up after the Bulldogs overwhelmed Michigan in one national semifinal and Alabama wore down Cincinnati in the other. Still, Young seemed poised to tear the Bulldogs hearts out when, after Christian Harris sacked Stetson Bennett to set up the Tide offense in the red zone, the quarterback threw a go-ahead touchdown pass Cameron Latu four snaps later.

That sequence began what was maybe the most entertaining 12 minutes of the four-team Playoff era.

Unlike the National Championship Game four years prior, I took no umbrage with Georgia’s inclusion in the Playoff that set up this all-SEC showdown. The Bulldogs won their division in 2021 and did not jump a more deserving candidate. I sympathize with Alabama fans who felt slighted losing in a rematch, but the same system that led to the rematch also benefited the Crimson Tide in 2017.

2. Sept. 18, 1965: Georgia 18, Alabama 17

Other Alabama-Georgia games have had higher mutual stakes, but none can match the wild finish nor the resulting controversy that decided the 1965 encounter.

 No. 5-ranked Alabama visited Athens and quickly found itself with its hands full. George Patton — no relation to the famed World War II general, but younger brother of former Alabama player Jim Patton — scored on a 55-yard pick-six that gave Georgia an early, two-score lead.

The Crimson Tide clawed back throughout the second half, however, scoring 17 unanswered to pull ahead in the fourth quarter, 17-10. That led to perhaps the wildest closing sequence ever in a rivalry marked with plenty of wild finishes.

It’s a moment called “The Flea Flicker,” though that’s an erroneous name. The actual play is more…well, I’ll defer to Lance Harbor.

Georgia quarterback Kirby Moore completed a short pass to Pat Hodgson, who then tossed behind him to a streaking Bob Taylor. Taylor ran the distance for a 73-yard touchdown, and riding the positive momentum, the Bulldogs went for a successful two-point conversion to score the win.

But was Hodgson down? It’s a question that still causes arguments today, as evidenced in the comments section of YouTube clips showing the landmark moment from this rivalry.

1.  2012 SEC Championship Game: Alabama 32, Georgia 28 

The best game of the Bowl Championship Series era is the 2006 Rose Bowl Game; The Press Break entertains no arguments otherwise. In the race for runner-up to this distinction as the period’s most exciting contest, however, the 2012 SEC Championship Game makes a strong case.

This back-and-forth shootout occurred at a time when SEC honks crowed loudly about the quality of the league’s defenses — and deservedly so. But the combination of truly elite defense with offenses mired in archaic thinking forced SEC homers to pretend that games like the 2011 Alabama-LSU mud slog were entertaining.

SEC offenses evolved throughout the 2010s, and the 2012 Championship Game foreshadowed the league’s future. It didn’t mean abandoning defense for a video-game style with the difficulty turned down; rather, it produced a true back-and-forth of physical chess that the wars of attrition in the SEC lacked.

If the late 2000s/early 2010s SEC was the Klitschko Brothers leaning into opponents for 12 rounds, the 2012 SEC Championship Game ushered in an era more like Muhammad Ali vs. Chuck Wepner. Haymakers were thrown on both sides of the ball: Amari Cooper caught for 128 yards, Eddie Lacy rushed for 181 and two touchdowns while Todd Gurley went for 122 and two scores. It all culminated in Cooper scoring on a 45-yard strike from AJ McCarron to give Alabama a 32-28 lead.

Aaron Murray responded in the following minute-and-change, leading a drive from the Georgia 15-yard line inside the 10. The Bulldogs pushed the ball effectively for 68 seconds – but they could have used 70 seconds to finish.

This was an incredible game, among the best I’ve ever watched live.  Alabama’s win was also significant for the butterfly effect it had on the direction of Georgia’s program.

Had the Bulldogs advanced to face Notre Dame for the BCS championship, they likely would have delivered a blowout comparable to Alabama’s of the Fighting Irish that year.

With the program’s first national championship in more than 30 years to his credit, Mark Richt would have presumably built up cachet keeping him in Athens beyond 2015. Does the delayed dismissal of Richt close Georgia’s window for luring Kirby Smart away from Tuscaloosa?