ALABAMA RECEIVERS VICTIMIZE BULLDOGS
If it wasn’t Jaylen Waddle outrunning the Georgia defense, it was DeVonta Smith winning a fight for the ball in the back of the end zone or slipping free on a wheel route.
Not even No. 4 Georgia’s vaunted defense could contain No. 2 Alabama’s speedy, crafty, surehanded receivers Saturday night. The question now: Who can?
“Trying to cover outstanding receivers is really a difficult task,” Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said. “You have to have a really, really good secondary, you have to have really good guys to match up. That’s been an advantage for us. It was a huge advantage for us last year, and it’s an advantage for us this year.”
Smith and Waddle each delivered another huge game in a 41-24 victory over Georgia, which easily has the best defense Alabama has faced this season.
It’s one thing to do it against Mississippi, and another altogether to victimize the Bulldogs.
“They made a couple big throws,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “They beat us on some bubble plays and a double move with Waddle. They made a lot of big plays on 50-50 balls. Smith and Waddle had some big catches.”
What else is new? Both Smith and Waddle rank among the nation’s top seven receivers in yards per game. And John Metchie III had 181 yards and two touchdowns against Texas A&M.
Waddle had a 90-yard touchdown against Georgia and has at least 120 receiving yards in all four games.
Smith has 24 catches for 231 yards and three touchdowns in the past two games, displaying his strong connection with quarterback Mac Jones.
“That’s just us in practice just getting chemistry down and really Mac just believing in me,” Smith said. “I always tell Mac: ‘You believe in me, I believe in you. I will never let you down.’ ”
Jones, whose three consecutive 400-yard passing games matches Tua Tagovailoa’s career total, said the trust is mutual and that Smith has the confidence to say, “Throw it to me.”
“He says, ‘I don’t care if I’m triple covered, throw it to me,’ ” Jones said. “It’s hard to turn that down. He’s a (Michael) Jordan-level competitor.
“If you can get him the ball, then he’ll make the play.”
Clemson stays No. 1
Clemson easily held off Alabama on Sunday to retain the No. 1 spot in The Associated Press poll, extending its longest run atop the poll to seven weeks.
The Crimson Tide ran away from Georgia on Saturday night to make the case to be No. 1, but it wasn’t enough to topple the Tigers.
Clemson defended its turf with a historic blowout against Georgia Tech. The 66-point rout was the largest ever in an Atlantic Coast Conference football game. Clemson received 54 firstplace votes out of 62 from the panel of sports writers and broadcasters.
The Crimson Tide got the remaining eight first-place votes. Notre Dame moved up to a season-high No. 3, No. 4 Georgia dropped one spot and Ohio State moved up to No. 5 a week before the Big Ten starts playing.
North Carolina took a big fall, dropping nine spots to No. 14 after losing at Florida State.
Notable
Starting quarterback Devin Leary could miss the rest of the regular season for No. 23 North Carolina State after having surgery Sunday for a leg injury suffered in a win against Duke.
• Purdue coach Jeff Brohm tested positive for the coronavirus, the school announced. Brohm is awaiting a second test to confirm the initial result and is isolating at his home, Purdue’s athletic department said in a statement.