Alabama QB Jalen Milroe Calls Out Kirby Smart, UGA Football
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ATHENS - Not that long after Alabama’s upset win over UGA Football, Bama QB Jalen Milroe had this to say:
“I'm big on body language and looking into the opponents' eyes. (UGA) looked defeated and didn't want any more. And I knew our team knew it was going to be a 60-minute game, and Georgia didn't believe in that,” he told Greg McElroy and Cole Cubelic on their radio show in the winter.
Did the Dawgs suddenly think games were 61 minutes?
It may or may not have occurred to Milroe at the time that he would have to face Georgia in the future. Remember, there was plenty of discussion that Milroe would transfer. After all, Bama’s legendary coach Nick Saban retired, and there was a lot of movement in T Town. Or perhaps the Alabama superiority complex was kicking into high gear (it happens).
But Milroe stuck in there with the Tide. He’s got a new offense. He’s got a new head coach. And he’s got a chance to lead his team to the national title in 2024 (Bama is listed just behind Oregon at +1500 as the No. 5 pick by Vegas to win it all in 2024).
He’s also, presumably, going to have to play against Georgia in September. And while his comments about Georgia may have gone relatively unnoticed over the months (there’s been a lot going on) - they’ve not gone completely unnoticed.
One of the third rails in sport is saying the other guy quit. Jalen Milroe said that about Kirby’s Dawgs.
On the field that night it certainly didn’t look that way to me. It looked like Alabama did a great job of taking advantage two UGA mistakes in particular to not only save their season, but also to win the SEC. It looked to me that Kirby was outcoached by Nick. It looked like Bama got its best win since beating UGA in 2021.
It was a massive, massive win for Alabama.
But if someone in Silver Britches “didn't want any more” I missed that. I think a lot of people missed that. The program that came back on Ohio State on the way to winning the national title; the one that took a massive right hook from Saban’s Tide two games before returning the favor - that’s the one “didn't believe” they would have to play a 60-minute game?
Got it.
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Its unfortunate when this sort of talk comes up. Milroe didn’t play the best game of his season against Georgia - that probably came against Texas A&M or LSU - but he did play well enough to win. He went 13 for 23 for 192 yards passing with 29 yards on 14 runs against the Dawgs. By any normal quarterback metrics those are pretty bad numbers, but that was exactly what he needed to do in order to beat Georgia that night.
The problem for Milroe is that there will be another night - another fight with Georgia. And while much has changed at Bama (perhaps for the better in terms of offensive productivity), not much has changed at Georgia. The fairy tale that UGA players, who are pushed to the brink during 20 hours of practices, "didn't believe” in playing for 60 minutes is just the sort of naive things we say in our early 20s.
It is full blown Alabama superiority complex.
Milroe can believe whatever he wants. One thing is true - he’s given Kirby and his program motivation they don’t have make up this time. This time the disrespect is actually real.