Georgia football: 3 simple things the defense does to beat Alabama

2. Georgia football needs to pressure Bryce Young… A LOT

Another thing Georgia football needs to do well is pressuring Alabama starting quarterback Bryce Young.

While Young is one of the best quarterbacks in the country, he also has gotten sacked 35 times this season.

That number ranks No.12 in the SEC in most allowed sacks — which is kind of hard to fathom since it’s Alabama, and usually, they have one of the best offensive lines. Georgia on the other hand has only allowed eight sacks, which is No. 1 in the conference.

Young has still put up the numbers, though, as he completed 288-of-418 passes for 3,901 yards, 40 touchdowns and four interceptions. He has a 176.96 quarterback rating and can hurt teams.

In those four games we mentioned in the previous slide, Young got sacked twice against Florida, four times against the Aggies, four times against LSU and seven times in the Iron Bowl.

So on average, these four teams recorded 4.25 sacks a game.

Another fun stat to look at here is tackles for loss. The Tide averages seven tackles for loss a game, which is dead last in the SEC. While they’re dead last, Georgia is first giving up three a game.

The Dawgs have given up 48 fewer tackles for loss than Alabama.

Auburn earned 11 tackles for loss against the Tide, LSU had eight, Texas A&M had five and Florida had six.

If Georgia’s defense can target Alabama offensive tackle Damieon George Jr.’s side, they will likely have fun wreaking havoc all game long.

The Dawgs need to utilize their excellent pass rush and pressure Young all game long. Jordan Davis needs to open up holes, Nakobe Dean needs to put Young in the dirt and the rest of the defense needs to get their share of pressure in as well.

Don’t let up, but at the same time, be mindful because Young can use his legs too. Not to mention, defensive pressures can cause an offense as good as Alabama’s to find a hole and take it.

Georgia needs to earn at least five tackles for loss and three sacks for this game to be a success on paper. However, if the film from these four games Alabama struggled in tell us anything, it’s that if the Dawgs can get pressure, we could see another seven-sack kind of night.

The Dawgs need to introduce themselves to Young because they will be in his face all night long.