There was a considerable cry to crown Ty Simpson as the Heisman Trophy frontrunner after the Alabama Crimson Tide took down the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens back in September.
Simpson went 24-for-38 passing for 276 yards and two touchdowns as the Tide stunned Georgia 24-21 and snapped its 33-game home winning streak. After the game, Simpson moved to second in the Heisman odds.
The Bulldogs’ defense, already reeling from allowing 41 points in a narrow road win over Tennessee was written off as a weakness that could derail their season. The same old narratives about Georgia not being able to beat Alabama reemerged, and for good reason. They didn’t beat them, after all.
But fast forward to December, and these two teams are set to face off once again in the SEC championship. And there’s a bit of a different feeling surrounding this Georgia defense. Frankly, it looks a lot better.
Georgia's defense is a completely different unit since losing to Alabama
The Bulldogs blew past Mississippi State before completely neutralizing Texas in a 35-10 win. Then, in a game where the offense faltered against a Georgia Tech team that came in averaging an ACC-high 485.9 yards of offense per game, the defense picked up the slack and held the Jackets to just nine points and 250 total yards in a win.
The secondary, which had been prone to coverage busts early in the year, has taken strides. Ellis Robinson IV has been one of the best cover corners in the country lately, and Demello Jones has emerged as one of the SEC’s most physical and sticky cornerbacks.
And while the Bulldogs’ pass rush has admittedly not magically morphed into an elite unit, they’ve gotten considerably more juice lately there too. Gabe Harris has continued to improve every week, and Georgia has seen freshmen Elijah Griffin and Zayden Walker start to come on as an interior and edge rusher respectively.
“Defensively, we've got guys a little more experienced,” head coach Kirby Smart said. “That's probably the biggest difference is that the guys that were young when we played them last time, they're a little more grown up now. They played more games. As the year goes on, you get more comfortable with who you are.”
Ty Simpson's recent struggles could help Georgia
That growth coincides with what has been a rough month or so for Simpson. Across four games in November, he completed 61.7 percent of his passes for 872 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions. Hardly Heisman material.
Simpson has struggled with accuracy, timing and footwork and Alabama’s offense has gone dormant for large stretches of games, most notably in a 23-21 home loss to Oklahoma and 27-20 Iron Bowl win over Auburn.
Of course, Simpson made a great throw to wideout Isaiah Horton for the win in the latter game, and Georgia’s own quarterback is coming off a 70-yard showing against Georgia Tech. But Georgia’s defense appears to have improved from September, while Simpson and the Tide’s offense has been marred by inconsistency.
“We're playing a little more together in terms of execution”, Smart said. “We got more experienced players. The biggest thing to me is we’ve got young guys who have had to grow up while playing together. They're playing with a little more confidence. We call it the cumulative effect. We do a lot defensively throughout the year. The cumulative reps of hard things get easier. There's enough overlap between those offenses and carryover of our defenses that allows repetitions to mount up and help us.”
Not to mention, the Bulldogs still have the sixth-ranked rush defense in the country allowing just 86.1 yards per game on the ground. Alabama averages just 126.2 rushing yards per game, and running back Jam Miller and key blocking tight end Josh Cuevas’ statuses are both in question for this Saturday.
That difficulty running the ball is what led to Alabama being behind the sticks so often in the Georgia game. Granted, they converted a mind-boggling 13-of-19 third downs, but if Georgia’s secondary and pass rush really have improved, there’s reason to expect some regression in that area for the Crimson Tide.
Georgia must take advantage of opportunity to finally beat Alabama
Maybe Simpson goes out there and lights Georgia up without even needing the threat of a run game. Maybe Georgia’s defense hasn’t really improved as much as it seems. Maybe the Tide just own the Bulldogs. But to say all of that will happen would require both of these teams to look completely different from how they’ve played since they last met.
This Georgia defense looks like it’s grown up fast in 2025. Robinson, Jones, Griffin, Harris and Walker have been playing their best football, and the same goes for Quintavius Johnson, Raylen Wilson, Christen Miller and the ever-reliable CJ Allen among others.
And on Saturday, against the team they’re infamous for always falling short against, they’re going to get the ultimate chance to prove that growth against a quarterback who has looked very mortal as of late.