- Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson has shown significant improvement after a poor start to the season.
- Simpson’s recent success came against weaker opponents, raising questions about his readiness for Georgia’s defense.
- Georgia’s pass defense has shown vulnerability, particularly against deep throws in significant games.
Alabama has quietly put itself in position to do what it always does, and change the dynamics of the SEC race.
By beating Georgia.
But before we take Kirby Smart’s Alabama Problem for another spin, or Georgia’s history of wilting against the Tide, let’s take a more reasonable assessment of a tangible and undeniable reality.
The simplistic look at the rebirth of Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson.
From struggling first-year starter barely completing 50% of his passes in an ugly loss to FSU in the season opener, to a rising star after routs of Wisconsin and Louisiana-Monroe. Now Alabama is back on track, baby.
Now everything is right in the Crimson world again.
Except Simpson’s surge came against a Louisiana-Monroe defense that’s 124th in the nation against the pass, and a Wisconsin program at its lowest point since the early 1990s. In other words, Simpson has been stressed once in his first three starts.
And failed miserably.
“When Ty starts fast, guys can feel that,” Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said. “They all feed off the other when they feel that sense of control in the game. Everyone is feeling a lot more confident.”
Feelings. So that’s where we are, everyone.
Not about what happened when the Alabama offense failed to show up again in a big game on the road (continuing last year’s mess), or that Georgia will be — far and away — the best defense the Tide has faced. It’s about a sense of control.
Feelings, for the love of Saban.
But maybe there’s something to this theoretical pitch that a sense of good equals good. Because even though Alabama’s two games since the season-opening meltdown at FSU have been against wildly inferior competition, Simpson still played nearly flawlessly.
It’s hard to argue with completing 89% of your passes for 608 yards and seven touchdowns. And no turnovers.
The ball is going downfield at an impressive rate (13.2 yards per attempt), and Alabama is stretching the field with its most dynamic and dangerous weapons (wideouts Ryan Williams and Germie Bernard).
The explosion plays have arrived, and Alabama hasn’t looked this efficient in the pass game since Bryce Young had a TD/INT ratio of 79/12 from 2021-22. The Tide has 41 pass plays this season of 10-plus yards, including 15 of 20-plus.
Then there’s this: Georgia hasn’t covered the deep ball well since 2023, and was routinely beat deep last season (including the Alabama loss). Earlier this month, in its only game of significance this season, Georgia gave up multiple deep throws to new Tennessee starting quarterback Joey Aguilar.
Georgia has played one game of significance, and in that game (an overtime win over Tennessee), the pass defense gave up 371 yards and four touchdowns, and 10.3 average yards per attempt. While the defense got two interceptions, a significant trend from last season has been largely ignored because one of the best kickers in the SEC duffed a makable field goal that allowed Georgia to win the game in overtime.
If Tennessee beats Georgia, the entire focus of the past two weeks would’ve been struggles in the secondary — deficiencies that go all the way back to Alabama’s crazy 41-34 win over Georgia in 2024.
That’s when Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe — not exactly the cleanest of throwers — had 374 yards and two touchdowns, and averaged 11.3 yards per attempt. Williams had seven catches for 177 yards, including an acrobatic 75-yard, game-winning deep ball.
Simpson isn’t the athlete Milroe is, but he’s a better thrower and all three levels are available in the pass game because of his accuracy. At least, his accuracy the past two games against two nobodies.
There’s a somebody on the sideline this time around. And it’s not as simple as what worked against the nobodies spilling over into the biggest game of the SEC season.
“We’re focused on moving with a purpose,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said. “Everything we do, just move with an urgency level that just has great body language and become contagious across the team.”
Feelings and body language. A contagious urgency.
This is where we are at Alabama.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.
