ATLANTA — Most of the time in November, Alabama barely held on. It started December by routing Georgia, the country’s top-ranked team.
The upshot felt as familiar as anything in college football: Alabama, the reigning national champion suddenly cast into an underdog’s existence after escaping three games last month by a touchdown or less, gave itself a chance to contend for another title.
Georgia, its nationally sterling defense dented Saturday in ways not previously seen this season, will almost certainly be in the field, too, when the final College Football Playoff rankings are announced on Sunday. It will just not be there as the Southeastern Conference champion, that potential squandered time and again during an evening that ended with an Alabama rout, 41-24.