Alabama knows road to playoff goes through Georgia

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) -- Alabama's first game away from home didn't go well. That puts much on the line for No. 17 Alabama when it visits No. 5 Georgia on Saturday night. The Crimson Tide's 31-17 season-opening loss at Florida State on Aug. 30 left coach Kalen DeBoer's team with little margin for error. Alabama (2-1, 0-0 SEC) needs a win over Georgia (3-0, 1-0) to protect its College Football Playoff hopes. DeBoer hopes his players learned from the painful loss at Florida State as they prepare for their second road game. "We've got to be resilient," DeBoer said. "We know there are going to be storms we have to weather in the SEC, on the road, and you've got to do it. No one else is going to go do it for you." Alabama answered the loss to Florida State with back-toback wins, including a confidence-building, 38-14 home win over Wisconsin on Sept. 13. "I know there's a high want-to factor this group has," DeBoer said. "They've shown it in the work. They've shown it in their preparation. That's the key. Really just prepare, invest, and do everything you can to be confident and do something special together." Georgia also enjoyed a confidence boost in its last game, a 4441 overtime win at Tennessee on Sept. 13 as Gunner Stockton threw for 304 yards and two touchdowns and also ran for a score. The Bulldogs needed the boost in their SEC opener following a sluggish 28-6 win over Austin Peay that left coach Kirby Smart looking for more explosive plays from his offense. Junior wide receiver Zachariah Branch answered the call against Tennessee by leading the Bulldogs with five receptions for 69 yards with a touchdown and a two-point conversion to force overtime. Hot quarterback Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson completed 24 of 29 passes for 382 yards and four touchdowns, including two to Ryan Williams, in the win over Wisconsin. Two of the incompletions came on drops. Smart said Simpson "is probably the hottest quarterback right now in all of college football. His two last outings, I don't know that I've seen an incompletion. Like, the ball does not hit the ground." Simpson replaced two-year starter Jalen Milroe, a third-round pick by Seattle who was a threat as a runner and passer. Smart has been impressed by Simpson's passing and smart reads. "He's been accurate, he's been quick with the ball," Smart said. "They're really hard to defend because of their skill. They've got tremendously skilled receivers, backs, tight ends, but you've got to have a trigger guy that can get those guys the ball, and they do. And he's seen the field." DeBoer vs. Top 25 DeBoer, the former Washington coach in his second season at Alabama, is 15-3 against Top 25 teams. That includes a 5-1 record against teams in the top 10. The Crimson Tide beat No. 2 Georgia 41-34 in Tuscaloosa last season in DeBoer's first SEC game as Alabama's coach. Long-awaited visit Smart, the former Alabama defensive coordinator, is in his 10th season at Georgia and finally has his first home game against the Crimson Tide. Alabama has proved to be a difficult opponent for Georgia under Smart, who has a 1-6 record in the rivalry. Smart's one win over his former home was memorable -- beating Alabama in Indianapolis on Jan. 10, 2022, to win the national championship. That win ended Georgia's 41-year national championship drought, and Smart led the Bulldogs to back-to-back titles the following year. Alabama has four wins over Smart and Georgia in Atlanta, including three SEC championship games and the 2018 national championship game. Playing the best Branch said the visit from Alabama on national TV (ABC) is the kind of game that attracted him to transfer from Southern California. "You know, you want to give a chance to play the best competition," Branch said, adding "the SEC is a great, great conference. So I feel like you just set me up to, you know, have those prime-time games ... to play against some of the best competition in the country and, you know, get a chance to showcase my talent when the time comes." Top 25 fixtures Alabama's No. 17 ranking is its 283rd consecutive week in the AP Top 25 poll. Georgia has made the AP Top 25 in 137 consecutive weeks.