What happened to the elite Georgia defenses from a few years ago? The Bulldogs struggled against Tennessee two weeks ago and so far against Alabama they have shown no signs of improvement. What did Glenn Schumann even work on the last two weeks?
Something is going to have to change in a hurry because Alabama leads Georgia 24-14 at the half and the Crimson Tide are showing now signs of slowing down on offense.
1st quarter domination
First quarters can't get much worse than what Georgia just experienced. Georgia's offense did absolutely nothing the two times they touched the ball, and UGA's defense failed to even slow the Tide down a little bit.
Alabama's first two drives of the game both lasted 14 plays and resulted in touchdowns which is already bad enough. But the thing that was most troubling was that Alabama was a perfect eight-for-eight on third downs. Some of those were even third and longs where Georgia should have gotten off the field, but UGA had no answer for Ty Simpson and the Alabama offense.
Red zone stand
Disaster struck Georgia's offense when Nate Frazier fumbled the ball near the Georgia 10-yard line after the defense got their first stop of the game. But instead of giving up another touchdown Georgia stood tall and held Alabama to a field goal.
Schumann and Georgia's defense deserve credit for this red zone stand because it very easily could have been a 14-point Alabama lead.
What needs to change for Georgia in the 2nd half?
Georgia needs to do one thing to improve on the defensive side of the ball. Get pressure on the quarterback. Simpson has had all the time in the world to throw the ball, and someone as good as him will feast on any defense when that is the case. So Georgia has to find a way to dial up some pressure if they are going to get some stops in the second half.
The good news for Georgia is that even after all of their struggles they only trail Alabama by 10 points. The bad news is that Alabama gets the ball first to start the second half, so Georgia's defense needs to get a quick stop to get the momentum back on UGA's side.