📡 Saturday's Top 25: Georgia rolls, Alabama up next for SEC title

[The Detroit News]

Athens, Ga. — Bring on Alabama. Jake Fromm threw a career-best four touchdown passes, D'Andre Swift ran for 105 yards and No. 5 Georgia romped into the Southeastern Conference championship game with a 45-21 rout of Georgia Tech on Saturday. The Bulldogs (11-1, No. 5 CFP) couldn't afford a slip-up

Athens, Ga. — Bring on Alabama.

Jake Fromm threw a career-best four touchdown passes, D’Andre Swift ran for 105 yards and No. 5 Georgia romped into the Southeastern Conference championship game with a 45-21 rout of Georgia Tech on Saturday.

The Bulldogs (11-1, No. 5 CFP) couldn’t afford a slip-up, not with a rematch against the top-ranked Crimson Tide looming next week in Atlanta.

No worries.

“I was hoping we’d have another chance to play them,” said linebacker D’Andre Walker, quickly turning his attention to the team that defeated Georgia in last season’s national championship game. “I knew we had a good team to get back to this point and play them again. Now we’ve got to prepare like no other and take on the challenge.”

The rivalry game known as “Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate” was over by halftime.

Georgia went to the locker room with a 38-7 lead — which, in an interesting twist, was the score of last year’s dominating victory over the Yellow Jackets. The Bulldogs held a 343-66 edge in total yards, piling up 18 first downs to just four by Georgia Tech (7-5).

Fromm threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Riley Ridley, a 12-yarder to Jeremiah Holloman and a 44-yarder to Mercole Hardman. Swift chipped in with a 1-yard scoring run, Elijah Holyfield had an 8-yard TD and Rodrigo Blankenship completed the onslaught with a 25-yard field goal on the final play of the half.

Fromm wasn’t done yet. On Georgia’s first series of the second half, he hooked up with Ridley again on a 4-yard scoring pass that prompted many in the crowd of more than 92,000 to head for the exits on a cold, damp day in Athens.

“We liked our matchups,” said Fromm, who went 13 of 16 for 175 yards before giving way to Justin Fields late in the third quarter. “When they were kind of playing the off coverage, we hit some underneath stuff and let guys break tackles. Our athletes, our guys, are really good with the ball in their hands, so let’s get it to them quick and let those guys make plays.”

Georgia came into the game determined to avoid a repeat of Georgia Tech’s last two visits to Sanford Stadium. In 2014, the Yellow Jackets prevailed 30-24 in overtime. Two years ago, they scored with less than a minute remaining for a 28-27 upset.

Both times, they shredded the famed hedges surrounding the field during the celebration.

The greenery looked just fine after Saturday’s final home game of the year.

Now, it’s on to Atlanta to face Alabama for the SEC title and an expected spot in the College Football Playoff.

Juanyeh Thomas provided Georgia Tech’s only points of the first half on a 100-yard kickoff return. The triple-option offense, which came into the game leading the nation in rushing yards, finally reached the end zone on Qua Searcy’s 3-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter.

Georgia Tech finished with 128 yards rushing — not even close to its 354-yard season average.

“Nothing was really consistent, so we couldn’t really get anything going” said quarterback TaQuon Marshall, who was held to 39 yards on 20 carries.

More Top 25
(At) No. 1 Alabama 52, Auburn 21: Tua Tagovailoa threw five touchdown passes and ran for a score to lead Alabama past rival Auburn.

Tagovailoa and the Crimson Tide (12-0, 8-0 SEC, No. 1 CFP) took over with an explosive third quarter, when the Heisman Trophy contender threw three long touchdown passes. He’s the first Alabama player to have a hand in six TDs in a game and matched the school record with the five scoring passes.

Now, ‘Bama heads to the SEC championship game against No. 5 Georgia with a guaranteed playoff spot on the line.

With Alabama leading Auburn (7-5, 3-5) 17-14 at halftime, Tagovailoa launched the Tide into another SEC blowout. He was 11-of-12 passing for 208 yards and four touchdowns in the second half, despite only playing one series in the fourth quarter.

Tagovailoa finished 25 of 32 for 324 yards and ran for 26 yards, including a 7-yard touchdown and a 21-yard third-down conversion on runs.

The second-half numbers included touchdowns of 46 yards to Jerry Jeudy, 33 to Josh Jacobs, 40 to DeVonta Smith and 22 to Henry Ruggs III — all accurate strikes downfield.





Saturday's Top 25: Georgia rolls, Alabama up next for SEC title