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Dawg Tracks: 15 thoughts heading into the SEC Championship

by: Jason Butt12/03/25JasonHButt

Here is this week’s Dawg Tracks column with Georgia preparing to face Alabama in the SEC Championship on Saturday. 

1. Under Kirby Smart, Saturday will mark the fourth time Georgia has faced the same team twice in a single season. The previous three times were against Auburn in 2017, Alabama in 2021 and Texas in 2024.

2. Smart’s record in same-season rematches is 3-0. After losing to Auburn in the 2017 regular season, the Bulldogs evened the score in the SEC Championship. After falling to Alabama in the 2021 SEC Championship, the Bulldogs rallied to a 33-18 win in the National Championship. And last year, Georgia defeated Texas both in the regular season and the SEC Championship. 

3. The SEC Championship has hosted a rematch eight times in its history. The team that won the first meeting has won six of those games, including Georgia a season ago. 

4. This is a weird Alabama team. It’s 10-2 but about as inconsistent as it gets in the trenches. The Crimson Tide have struggled to run the ball on offense and are average in defending the run. This plays into Georgia’s strengths, which makes the regular-season loss even more confounding at this point. 

5. The biggest key to the game will be whether Georgia can disrupt Ty Simpson. Simpson had all the time in the world in the first meeting, throwing for 276 yards and two touchdowns. 

6. Alabama hasn’t always looked like a dominant team in 2025. But one of the reasons it is 10-2 and in the SEC Championship is that it’s incredibly opportunistic. The Crimson Tide are plus-8 in turnover margin, which ranks tied for third in the SEC. Georgia is ranked ninth at minus-1. 

7. Simpson does a great job of spreading the ball to its receivers. Of course, Ryan Williams remains the most dangerous weapon for Tide, even if he was shut out against Auburn. 

8. This is a Nate Frazier revenge game. Frazier is playing his best football now, but lost a fumble that led to an Alabama field goal in the first meeting. Frazier was beached for a bit after the turnover and will want a much better showing this time around. 

9. Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo loves calling those quick screens. Georgia Tech was all over them early, which seemed to affect Gunner Stockton’s rhythm. Will Alabama devote the same energy to Georgia’s screen game? 

10. If Georgia defeats Alabama, it’s locked into the No. 3 seed at worst. The highest it will go is obviously No. 2, which should earn a berth to the Sugar Bowl. The Big Ten champion will be the No. 1 seed and likely go to the Rose Bowl. 

11. If Georgia loses a competitive game, it has a case to drop back only to No. 4. Why should the Bulldogs be punished for playing an extra game when they most likely would have been in the top four had they not gone the SEC Championship? That said, it would be impossible to keep Georgia ahead of Alabama and so the Bulldogs would likely fall to No. 5 or 6 with the Crimson Tide jumping to No. 4.

12. The team getting absolutely screwed by the College Football Playoff committee is Vanderbilt. The Commodores should be sitting at No. 11 when compared to BYU and Miami. And while Texas defeated Vanderbilt, losing to Florida and needing overtime to defeat Kentucky and Mississippi State should matter more than it apparently does. I’m not typically a conspiracy theorist but almost every other SEC team would be in far better shape with Vanderbilt’s resume.  

13. Speaking of Vanderbilt, it just transitioned from lovable underdog to the sharpest thorn. With Jared Curtis committed to Georgia for months, he flipped to his hometown Commodores just a day before National Signing Day. Vanderbilt can’t land the No. 1 overall recruit in College Football 26 yet this happens? Is this real life?

14. Curtis is a young kid and is entitled to the make the best decision for him. But it’s worth pointing out that Georgia has enjoyed its best success with players who possess a deep affinity for the program. After earning some starting experience at the junior college level, Stetson Bennett came back to the school he grew up loving and led the program to two national titles. Stockton dreamed of starting for Georgia and waited his turn for the moment he’s found himself in. Players tend to give more when they believe in something bigger than themselves, which is true of Bennett and Stockton. That’s an undervalued quarterback trait in today’s day and age. 

15. Curtis may turn out to be the real deal and take Vanderbilt to greater heights when it’s all said and done. But if you’re Georgia, you’re in an excellent position with Stockton returning and Ryan Puglisi backing him up. Culture is important in football, and you have to love who’s leading it in Georgia’s quarterback room at the moment.