TUSCALOOSA, Alabama – Ryan Williams got the Alabama receivers together Friday night to play some video games.
He battled against his teammates in EA Sports College Football 25, a way to relax a day before the start of the biggest game of the college football season so far: No. 2 Georgia against No. 4 Alabama.
As is often the case, Williams, the Tide’s 17-year-old star receiver, played the video game with his own team. While engrossed in a close battle with a teammate, Williams furiously moved pieces on the virtual field using his controller until one of his defensive backs, fellow freshman Zabien Brown, grabbed a ball out of the air for an interception. that sealed the game.
Williams celebrated the victory and the next day, hours before Alabama played the actual game against Georgia, he delivered a message to Brown: You will get the winning choice!
He got over it.
On Saturday, at Bryant-Denny Stadium, in front of a vibrant crowd, former US President Donald Trump, Kid Rock and Hank Williams Jr., Alabama defeated Georgia, 41-34.
It was the latest exciting chapter in a heated series between the SEC’s unquestioned dynasties. The Tide blew a 28-0 lead, needing an acrobatic 75-yard touchdown reception by one freshman (Williams) and a last-second interception by another (Brown) to avoid what would have been a disaster.
On the national stage, in a top-five matchup, the Tide’s two rookies had their coming-out party. Their quarterback, Jalen Milroe, put together a day worthy of the Heisman Trophy. Their defense did enough in the end. And their coach, Kalen DeBoer, earned not only his first SEC win, but also a win over a two-time national champion coach and former Alabama assistant in Kirby Smart.
It was exhilarating. Exciting. Explosive. Emotional. A little tiring too.
DeBoer offered this description as he began his postgame press conference: “There’s a lot going on there.”
In fact, there is a lot going on.
From a 28-0 lead early in the second quarter to a 34-33 deficit late in the quarter, DeBoer was three minutes away from a humiliating collapse that won’t be long forgotten in these parts. And then, well, then came that rookie duo of Williams and Brown, each sporting the No. 2 jersey. “Two No. 2s,” DeBoer said with a smile.
After Georgia took its first lead of the game with 131 seconds left, Williams took that 75-yard line on Alabama’s first play of the drive. It was something to behold, a Milroe shoulder fade to the sideline that Williams caught not unlike a returner corralling a punt. What happened next was one of the most incredible moves you’ll see from any player this year. He shook two defenders with a 360-degree spin and then blew past them to score.
“I thought, ‘They can’t tackle me!’” Williams said afterward. “I did a spinning motion. It was like in slow motion.”
Later, on the Jumbotron, he caught a replay of the spin. It seemed faster. I was sure that, in the field, he was slow.
No no. There’s nothing slow about Ryan Williams, a unanimous five-star prospect from Mobile who was good enough in high school to be reclassified from the class of 2025.
“That guy is always making a play on the ball,” Milroe said.
Early in the game, he gave himself one pass, one of six catches for 177 yards. Not bad for a child, yes child! – who was born in 2007. He doesn’t turn 18 until February.
But after Williams’ acrobatic catch and that nasty spin, Georgia moved down the field. The Bulldogs reached the Alabama 20-yard line before Brown stepped in front of quarterback Carson Beck’s shoulder-back attempt toward the corner of the end zone.
He snatched the ball out of the air just as Williams predicted.
“I told you! I told you!” Williams barked at him as he returned to the bench.
During an earlier Georgia touchdown from behind, Brown spun in the wrong direction. This time, he knew that if Beck tried again, he would take the right path.
“It doesn’t even seem real to me,” Brown said afterward. “I don’t even remember.”
They won’t soon forget it here: the two number 2s.
The fourth-quarter drama unfolded after a shocking collapse by the Tide.
Alabama scored touchdowns on its first four possessions and led 28-0 three minutes into the second quarter. Their starting quarterback, Milroe, completed his first 11 passes and rushed for over 100 yards on his first nine carries. Their defense intercepted two passes in the first half, forced two punts and put Georgia at safety.
And then in the second half, it all went away. At one point, Beck completed consecutive passes of 67 yards (touchdown), 47 yards, 30 yards, 8 yards (touchdown), 34 yards and 21 yards. He brought the Bulldogs back from what seemed like death. It brought them so close to what their coach longs for.
This seemed like the perfect time for Smart to land Alabama, as perfect a time as any.
His team received its annual “wake-up call” against Kentucky two weeks ago; he had a week off to sort things out; he was facing an Alabama team with a quarterback whose inconsistencies throughout last season actually led to his benching; And, oh, perhaps the most important piece of all of this: Nick Saban was missing.
Perfect, right? A good time to unleash on Alabama the nearly two decades of Saban-led dominance against UGA, to show the country who really runs the SEC, to illustrate the strength of Georgia football, to introduce rookie head coach DeBoer to the league. in their first conference game.
Everything points here. Everything pointed to this. This was Georgia’s night!
And then, in what seemed like a blink of an eye, a snap of a finger, Smart’s nightmare returned: the Alabama bogeyman.
This time there is no Nick Saban to blame, nor any former boss to dominate him on the opposite side. Just a 49-year-old first-year Alabama coach who’s not from around here.
We’re all wondering, let’s face it, if athletic director Greg Byrne made the right hire, if this fit would work: a South Dakotan in the Deep South. And although we’re only four games into the job, the fit seems pretty good, like a finely tailored suit: crisp and crisp.
From a 30,000-foot view, the wonder of Saturday in Tuscaloosa is remarkable.
Five years ago, DeBoer was calling plays as Indiana’s offensive coordinator in a truly meteoric rise that led here: He now has a roster of some of the most talented tools in college football at his disposal.
Perhaps the most talented is Milroe, the latest in DeBoer’s recent lineage of quarterback greatness: Michael Penix at Indiana; Jake Haener in Fresno; Penix again in Washington.
Milroe is improving live before your eyes. That 75-yard fade to Williams? He fumbled that ball earlier this season when the Tide called that play, DeBoer said. Not tonight. Not when Alabama needed it most.
Milroe became the first player in AP poll history with 300 passing yards, 100 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns against a top-five opponent. A notable statistic, perhaps second only to one from his coach: DeBoer is 13-1 in his last 14 games against ranked opponents.
“Trust the process,” Milroe said afterward, taking a line from his former coach.
Sure, he says, it’s a “cliché,” but it’s true.
The two, DeBoer and Milroe, had an argument on the sidelines after Georgia took the lead. They talked about never having regrets, the coach said. Compete until the end. Fighting against adversity. Recovering.
And then came that 75-yard goal to one of those No. 2s.
“A lot of our plays have opportunities where you find that one-on-one (matchup) and if you like the matchup, you go for it,” DeBoer said.
The coach smiled: “He obviously liked what he saw and went after it.”
