If you were watching the SEC Championship back in December, you saw something that felt like a glitch in the Matrix. For years—basically since Kirby Smart took over in Athens—the georgia alabama football score has almost always trended toward the Crimson Tide. It didn't matter if Georgia had the better defense or the "destiny" narrative; Alabama usually found a way to break Bulldog hearts in Atlanta.
But not this time.
On December 6, 2025, the scoreboard at Mercedes-Benz Stadium read Georgia 28, Alabama 7.
It wasn’t just a win. It was a demolition. It was the kind of game where you look at the box score and realize Alabama didn't just lose—they got bullied. The Bulldogs finally exorcised their Mercedes-Benz demons, holding the Tide to their second-lowest rushing total in the history of the entire program. Minus three yards. Let that sink in for a second. An Alabama team finished a championship game with negative rushing yardage.
The Game That Changed the Narrative
Honestly, most of us expected another nail-biter.
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Earlier in the 2025 season, specifically on September 27, Alabama walked into Sanford Stadium and handed Georgia their first home loss in six years. That georgia alabama football score was a tight 24-21 win for the Tide. It felt like the "same old story." Ty Simpson looked like the next great Bama QB, and Kirby Smart fell to 1-7 against his old employer.
Then the SEC Championship happened.
Georgia’s Gunner Stockton, the guy who had been waiting in the wings, finally had his "Heisman moment" without actually winning the trophy. He went 20-of-26 for 156 yards and three touchdowns. He wasn't throwing 60-yard bombs every play; he was just surgical. Georgia's defense, meanwhile, played like they were angry about every loss to Alabama since 2008.
Why the 28-7 Score Was Different
The 2025 SEC Championship score was a massive departure from the high-scoring "instant classics" we’ve seen lately. Think back to 2024. In Tuscaloosa, the score was 41-34. Jalen Milroe was running wild, Ryan Williams was catching 75-yard game-winners, and fans were losing their minds.
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This latest meeting was a defensive clinic.
- The Rushing Nightmare: Alabama had 16 rushing attempts. They gained zero positive momentum. The Bulldog front seven, led by guys like Mykel Williams and the emerging interior rotation, essentially lived in the Alabama backfield.
- Third Down Dominance: Georgia has been on a tear lately, holding four straight opponents to 10 points or fewer. That hasn't happened in Athens since 1971.
- The Stockton Factor: Gunner Stockton earned the MVP by being efficient. He didn't turn the ball over. In a rivalry often decided by one or two "hero" plays that go wrong, Stockton stayed within the system.
A History of Heartbreak and Triumphs
To understand why a 28-7 win feels like a tectonic shift, you have to look at the lopsided history. Alabama still leads the all-time series 45-27-4. For a long time, this wasn't even a "rivalry" in the eyes of Bama fans—it was just a recurring appointment to win a trophy.
The georgia alabama football score history is littered with games that Georgia fans want to delete from their memories:
- 2023 SEC Championship: Alabama wins 27-24, snapping Georgia’s 29-game win streak.
- 2021 SEC Championship: Alabama wins 41-24.
- 2018 SEC Championship: The 35-28 heartbreaker where Jalen Hurts came off the bench.
- 2012 SEC Championship: The 32-28 game where Georgia came up five yards short.
But then there's January 10, 2022. The National Championship. Georgia won that one 33-18. That was the moment the "curse" supposedly broke, but Bama kept winning the regular-season matchups. That’s what made the December 2025 win so significant—it was the first time Kirby Smart beat Alabama in the SEC Championship game.
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What’s Next for the Rivalry?
The landscape has changed. Nick Saban is in the booth, and Kalen DeBoer is at the helm. While DeBoer showed he can beat Kirby in the regular season, the playoff-style rematch went firmly to the Dawgs.
Georgia is now looking like a powerhouse that has figured out how to win back-to-back SEC titles for the first time since the Herschel Walker era (1980-1982). They are the "haves," and currently, Alabama is the team having to justify their resume to the CFP selection committee.
If you're looking for the next chapter, mark your calendars for October 10, 2026. That's when these two meet again. Expect the tickets to be the most expensive in the country.
Actionable Insights for Fans
If you’re tracking these teams for the upcoming season or looking at the history for your own sports blog, keep these technical details in mind:
- Watch the Trench Stats: In the last three matchups, the team that wins the "Line of Scrimmage" (specifically rushing yards per carry) has won the game 100% of the time. The 2025 blowout was the ultimate proof of this.
- Second-Chance Advantage: Kirby Smart is now 4-0 in "rematch" games (beating Auburn in 2017, Alabama in 2021, Texas in 2024, and Alabama in 2025). If Georgia loses the regular-season game but meets the same team in the post-season, the smart money is on the Bulldogs.
- Quarterback Stability: Georgia’s transition from Carson Beck to Gunner Stockton was seamless. Alabama's Ty Simpson has the talent, but his efficiency dropped significantly when pressured in the SEC title game compared to the September meeting.
The 2025 season proved that the georgia alabama football score isn't just a number—it’s a barometer for who actually runs the SEC. Right now, the trophy resides in Athens, and the gap between these two programs, which once felt like a canyon, is now a dead-even slugfest.
To stay ahead of the curve for the 2026 matchup, start monitoring the recruiting trails for defensive linemen. Georgia’s ability to negate Alabama’s run game was the sole reason the score stayed under 10 for the Tide. If Alabama can't fix their protection schemes by next October, we might see a repeat of the 28-7 result.