The Crimson Tide is gearing up for what may be its toughest challenge this year. Alabama will face Georgia for the SEC Championship this Saturday in Atlanta. The title game follows a white-knuckle Iron Bowl where the Tide scored the winning touchdown with just forty two seconds left. Head Coach Nick Saban says the come-from-behind win is nice, but Atlanta and the Bulldogs are just days away…
“But everybody needs to have a reality check and build on the good things that we did,” said Saban. “And there were a lot of good things in this game. But also, we got to fix the things we need to fix. Because we're going to play a really good team next week and the SEC championship game.”
The Georgia Bulldogs, two-time defending champs, are still ranked number one and had a much less treacherous path to the Southeastern Conference Championship Game meeting of powerhouses Saturday in Atlanta despite some key injuries. The Bulldogs completed their third straight perfect regular season with a 31-23 win over Georgia Tech and have been atop the rankings for an SEC-record 24 consecutive weeks. Saban says second half victories over teams like LSU and Tennessee speak of the resiliency of the Crimson Tide. He adds that the team has been playing that way a lot this year.
“Whether it was the LSU game in the second half where there was a Tennessee game and the second half of it was the Ole Miss game and the second half. This game of the day, speaks volumes for the competitive character of these guys in the resiliency they have to keep fighting in the game.”
The season-long ride has been bumpy for Alabama, though, with plenty of people doubting the Tide could get back into this position after the Texas loss and offensive struggles against South Florida. The Tide have now won ten straight. "This one has been very unique," Georgia Coach Kirby Smart said. "They play really hard. They play well together. They respond for each other. They've been in some tight ball games and made some big time comebacks in games."
