Cary Clark's Greatest Games: 2015 Georgia
When Alabama visited Athens, Ga on Oct. 3, 2015, there was weirdness in the air. It was overcast and rainy at times. And Georgia, before the contest even started, chose to talk crap.
What possessed the Bulldog players – then coached by Mark Richt in his final season – to approach Alabama’s players during pre-game with a barrage of smack talk and “menacing” gestures is anyone’s guess; but you can ask anyone who was there or watched, anyone will tell you the same thing.
It backfired.
Big time.
Alabama whipped UGA soundly 38-10, and Richt got the boot after the season, leading to the hiring of then Bama defensive coordinator and Georgia alum Kirby Smart.
Nick Saban said of his players' effort that day, “We needed them to be extraordinary.
“I told them before the game that the plan we had for them, ordinary men couldn’t go out there and get it done.”
Bear in mind, Alabama was coming off a five-turnover home loss to Ole Miss and could not afford and 0-2 SEC start.
Bama played like it. Derrick Henry, on his way to the Heisman, ran for 148 yards and looked like a guy who played in Athens from 1980-82. Quarterback Jake Coker threw for 190 yards. The senior threw a TD and scored one on the ground. Minkah Fitzpatrick blocked a punt and then scooped-and-scored. Eddie Jackson had a pick-six, while Marlon Humphrey and Ronnie Harrison also had interceptions.
[Coker is the only player in the previous paragraph not in the NFL now.]
By the time Nick Chubb got Georgia’s only touchdown of the day on an 83-yard run in the final quarter, only a few red-and-black clad fans were left at Samford Stadium to see it.
This big road win went a long way in Alabama’s roll to the 2015 national championship.
For the record, the Bulldogs haven’t defeated Saban’s Tide since Saban’s first season, 2007. Smart and his team hope to change that if given the chance to play in Bryant-Denny Stadium Sept. 19.
