History of Georgia/Alabama rivalry and Bulldogs all-time record vs. Crimson Tide

On Saturday night when No. 4 Alabama and No. 2 Georgia meet on Nick Saban Field at Bryant Denny Stadium, it will be the 74th such meeting between the two historic programs and the first since last season’s SEC Championship game, a 27-24 Alabama win that sent the Crimson Tide to the College Football Playoff in Nick Saban’s final season at the helm. 

Now, with Kalen DeBoer leading Alabama, the Crimson Tide are home underdogs for the first time since 2007, Saban’s first year on the job and Kirby Smart, Saban’s former defensive coordinator, and subsequent SEC rival will be looking for just his second win against the Tide. Smart’s first win as Georgia’s head coach against the team he helped lead to four national championships came in the 2022 College Football Playoff national championship game, a 33-18 victory that secured Georgia’s first title since 1980. 

That victory served as revenge for the 2018 national championship game, which Alabama won in overtime 26-23 after Tua Tagovailoa took over for Jalen Hurts at halftime. 

Six of the last eight matchups between the two rival programs that were long separated by the SEC’s two divisions, which dissolved with the arrival of Oklahoma and Texas to the conference this year, came in either the SEC Championship game (four times) or the CFP National Championship game (twice). The last regular season meeting came in 2020 when Alabama beat Georgia 41-24. 

During the Nick Saban era, Georgia went just 2-8 and the Bulldogs have just one win in six tries since Smart took over the program in 2016. 

Georgia’s all-time record vs. Alabama

The rivalry between Georgia and Alabama on the football field dates back to the first meeting in 1895, a 30-6 Georgia victory. However, Georgia is just 26-43-4 all-time against Alabama.