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Local Sports Stories Archives for 2022-01

Alabama Football Falls to Georgia in the CFP National Championship Game, 33-18

INDIANAPOLIS – The No. 1/1/1 University of Alabama football team battled throughout its ninth national championship game appearance since 2009, but fell to No. 3/3/3 Georgia in the 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship Game Monday night in Indianapolis, Ind. The Crimson Tide finished the season at 13-2 and as the Southeastern Conference and Cotton Bowl champions.

 

The game was tight throughout with the first half seeing five field goals and no touchdowns between the two teams, as Alabama took a 9-6 lead into the break. After scoring another field goal and a touchdown to open the fourth quarter, Alabama led 18-13 with just over 10 minutes to go, before UGA scored a trio of touchdowns to secure the win.

 

Quarterback Bryce Young completed 33 of his 57 passes for 369 yards, recording one touchdown. Brian Robinson Jr. paced the team on the ground with 68 yards on 22 attempts while also hauling in four receptions for 28 yards through the air.

 

Tight end Cameron Latu led the Crimson Tide with 102 receiving yards and a touchdown on 5 catches, in the absence of John Metchie III and Jameson Williams, who left the game with an injury in the second quarter.

 

Defensive back DeMarcco Hellams led the Tide with seven tackles with linebackers Christian Harris and Henry To’oTo’o recorded six a piece. Meanwhile, Harris paced Alabama in tackles for loss with three, while he and Dallas Turner came away with two sacks each.

 

Will Reichard scored all nine of the Crimson Tide’s points in the first half on field goals from 37, 45 and 37 yards out. He added a fourth field qoal in the fourth quarter from 21 yards out.

 

Postgame Notes

  • Alabama played in its 13th College Football Playoff matchup Monday night.
    • The Crimson Tide is 9-4 all-time in College Football Playoff games since the playoff's inception in 2014 and is the only team to appear in seven of the eight Playoffs. The Crimson Tide (9-4) holds the record for the most CFP wins and most games played. Alabama claimed CFP National Championships in 2015, 2017 and 2020 and reached the National Championship Game in six of its seven seasons in the Playoff.
  • Monday’s matchup marked just the third instance since 1998, the inception of the BCS, that neither team scored a touchdown in the first half of a national championship game.
  • The last time the first five scores of a national championship game were field goals was when Alabama defeated LSU, 21-0, in the 2011 BCS National Championship Game on Jan. 9, 2012.
    • All five of those field goals were by former Crimson Tide kicker Jeremy Shelley.
    • Monday’s matchup marked the first national championship game that a combined five field goals were scored in the first half.
  • Stepping In and Stepping Up:
    • Cameron Latu caught a career-long, 61-yard reception in the second quarter. Later in the game, he caught his eighth touchdown pass this season, Alabama’s first touchdown of the game. 
    • Agiye Hall had a career-long reception on a 24-yard catch, also in the second quarter.
  • Alabama’s defense limited Georgia to no first downs on its opening drive, just the second time this season the Bulldog offense has not recorded a first down on its opening drive. 
  • Junior defensive back Khyree Jackson made his first career start in the game against Georgia.
    • He totaled two tackles, both solo stops, and had one pass breakup.
  • The game captains against Georgia were Alabama’s permanent captains in linebacker Will Anderson Jr., defensive lineman Phidarian Mathis, offensive lineman Evan Neal, quarterback Bryce Young.

 

How It Happened

FIRST QUARTER

  • 9:55 – UA | Alabama scored on its first drive, thanks to Will Reichard’s 37-yard field goal that capped a 14-play, 56-yard drive.

 

SECOND QUARTER

  • 12:35 – UGA | Georgia tied the game to start the second quarter, after Jack Podlesny connected on a 24-yard field goal, concluding an 11-play, 87-yard series.
  • 11:12 – UA | Reichard kicked a 45-yard field goal to end a drive that lasted five plays and 47 yards.
  • 7:07 – UA | Reichard kicked a 37-yard field goal, capping a six-play, 55-yard series.
  • 3:09 – UGA | Podlesny made good on another field goal, this time from 49 yards out, to conclude a nine-play, 34-yard drive.

 

THIRD QUARTER

  • 1:20 – UGA | Zamir White rushed one yard into the Crimson Tide end zone, scoring the game’s first touchdown, ending a four-play, 80-yard series.

 

FOURTH QUARTER      

  • 12:59 – UA | Reichard drove his fourth field goal through the uprights from 21 yards out, finishing off a 10 play, 72-yard drive
  • 10:14 – UA | Bryce Young found Cameron Latu for a three-yard touchdown pass to cap a four-play, 16-yard drive for the Crimson Tide.
  • 8:09 – UGA | Stetson Bennett hit Adonia Mitchell with a 40-yard pass, but a rushing PAT attempt failed
  • 3:33  – UGA | Bennett tossed a 15-yard pass to Brock Bowen for the TD
  • :54 – UGA | Kelee Ringo returned an interception 79 yards to seal the Georgia win

 

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