The Georgia Bulldogs will play for the national championship on Jan. 10 when they take on the Alabama Crimson Tide. Below you can find live updates, an injury report and the latest practice news for the 2022 National Championship Game.
The two teams convincingly won their College Football Playoff semifinals, with Georgia beating Michigan 34-11 and Alabama easily getting past Cincinnati 27-6. These two teams met in the 2018 National Championship game, with Alabama winning 26-23.
Georgia football-Alabama live updates, practice news
1:00 p.m., Jan. 3 update: Georgia coach Kirby Smart, quarterback Stetson Bennett and defensive back Derion Kendrick will speak with reporters shortly to preview the national championship game.
- “We’re excited to get another shot. We’ve got a lot of respect for Coach Saban. We know we’ve got to play one of our best games.” — Kirby Smart on playing Alabama again.
- “When you’re playing a rematch game, a lot can go into. You have to be careful. The things you break down will change. What tendencies change, what matchups you’re looking for.” — Smart on the rematch.
- “We’ve worked hard the last 30 days getting better about us. It was never about Michigan or Alabama. At the end of the day we’ve been trying to get our players better.” — Smart on playing Alabama again.
- “Brock is good. That shoulder injury is nothing new. I had it when I played. He’s a football player, it’s not going to go away in season.” — Kirby Smart on Brock Bowers’ injury.
- “You gotta play well. You gotta play well in the red area and execute.” — Smart on playing Alabama again.
- “It’s really important. He(Bryce Young) did a good job of moving around in the pocket. Has elite spatial awareness. It wasn’t for lack of trying. We tried a lot of different pressures. Somebody has to win one-on-one. We had some really critical third-down losses. You’re giving them extra snaps every time that happens.” — Kirby Smart on pressuring Alabama and Bryce Young.
- “The truly great players understand that NFL scouts, decision-makers call me and say “How much did Roquan Smith, Nakobe Dean play as a freshman. They start evaluating guys in year three. So where do you go to get that? You go where they have the best. It’s an easier decision than you think.” — Kirby Smart on recruiting so many great players.
- “It’ll never be about me and him. It’s about the players.” — Kirby Smart on Nick Saban.
- “We can’t do anything if we don’t win upfront. Jamaree, Warren, all those guys inside felt slighted a bit by the Joe Moore Award going to Michigan. That those two guys would ruin the game for us and they took it as a challenge.” — Stetson Bennett on the Georgia offensive line.
- “We know the guys on our team that are game-changers and we want to get them the ball. But when the play starts, I throw the ball to whose open. When the ball is snapped for me, unless its those specific scenarios, I throw the ball to the guy who is open. I think that’s a strength of our team.” — Stetson Bennett on the offensive philosophy.
- “I’m just treating this as a football game. Do I know this means a lot to a lot of people, yes. Am I going out there and trying to be a savior to a lot of people? No. Is it just another game, no I’m not silly. I don’t think for 20 year old kids you can put that pressure on yourself because you might go crazy.” — Stetson Bennett on the magnitude of this game.
- “Yeah coaches say that but those guys are going to get every chance to fail where before a walk-on gets a chance to succeed. Usually, 5-stars are better than walk-ons, that’s how it goes. I think our team does a good job of not worrying about 5-stars with this and that when you get in the door. I don’t know any recruiting. I know we did well. I don’t know who was ranked where and I will tell you every senior on this team doesn’t care.” — Stetson Bennett on recruiting rankings coming in.
- “Is Alabama going to send us an email this week with every change they’re going to make? I would love that. If there is a wrinkle on Monday night, whoever adjusts best to that is probably going to win.” — Stetson Bennett on adjustments being made for this game.
- “If you follow football, you know my situation. I just came in, put my head down and worked. They accepted me for who I was and not what I did in the past.” — Derion Kendrick on arriving at Georgia.
- “Just gotta lock-in. Just everybody make plays. It’s the top of the collegiate level so everyone is going to make plays. You just gotta make the next one.” — Derion Kendrick on defending Jameson Williams.
- “I see it almost every day. He’s a great player, always works hard. Usually, when you work that hard, good things happen.” Derion Kendrick on Brock Bowers.
11:45 a.m., Jan. 3 update: Alabama coach Nick Saban, running back Brian Robinson and linebacker Will Anderson will speak with reporters at noon. Kirby Smart, Stetson Bennett and Derion Kendrick will speak to reporters at 1 p.m. ET.
- “This team has overcome a lot of adversity over the course of the year. Extremely proud of how they have put themselves in a spot to win a championship. It will be a tremendous challenge. They’re a great team, they’ve got great balance. This is a really, really good all-around team.” — Nick Saban on Georgia and Alabama.
- “I think in that, there are some subtle changes you need to make so that you put your players in the best chance to be successful.” — Saban on what’s changed with the game being a rematch.
- No updates on the offensive line from Nick Saban. “Hopeful we’ll get some guys back.”
- “It starts up front. We’re always trying to prepare our players changed extremely well.”
- Saban mentions this is an extremely young team. Only three or four senior starters. Talks about how this team has grown over the course of the year.
- “I think this guy is one of the premier players in college football. He’s physical, he’s tough, he’s got wide receiver skills in every shape and form. It makes it difficult for bigger guys to cover him and smaller guys to cover him. He’s been extremely productive in a lot of ways.” — Nick Saban on Brock Bowers.
- “Being an underdog is being an underdog. I think it’s important for our players to know that they need to continue to have success regardless of what happened in the last game.” — Saban on being an underdog.
- “He’s a tremendous athlete, very long, very athletic. We need to make sure we do a great job of covering him. We just need to play our game and make it as effective as it can be.” — Will Anderson on Brock Bowers.
- “We gotta expect some new things. We think they’re going to come out as a completely different team. We gotta prepare for this week.” — Alabama running back Brian Robinson.
- “Being an underdog, it’s one of those feelings. It’s just a mindset that our team has, that we live with. We’ll be motivated and come out with the underdog mentality.” — Alabama running back Brian Robinson.
Georgia and Alabama were the only two teams to hold the No. 1 ranking during the 2021 season. Now, one of those teams will end the season as the No. 1 team in the country.
These two teams met earlier this season, with Alabama easily besting the Bulldogs 41-24. It is the only time this season the Georgia defense has given up more than 17 points in a game this season. The Georgia offense also struggled in the second half, with Bennett throwing two costly interceptions in the game.
Minutes after Georgia took down Michigan, Smart quickly shifted the conversation from celebrating the win over Michigan to focusing on Alabama.
“I want to get focused on Alabama,” Smart said. “They got a five, six-hour head start. To be honest with you guys, I’m not interested in celebrating that. We’ll look back on that win and that’ll be great, but we’re focused on the task ahead, and that’s the objective and that’s what our guys — they worked their tail off for three to four weeks to get this opportunity, and it was a one-game season, and now it’s another one-game season.”
Much will be made about Smart and Georgia’s inability to beat Saban and Alabama, as the Alabama head coach has won seven consecutive games against Georgia dating back to 2008. The Bulldogs have lost close games against Alabama and also in blowout fashion. This game will be played in Indianapolis, the first time these two teams will have met outside of the south. The prior matchups all took place in either Athens, Ga., Tuscaloosa, Ala., or Atlanta.
A win for Alabama would give the Crimson Tide back-to-back national championships. For Georgia, it would be its first national championship since 1980.
Georgia football injury report for 2022 National Championship Game
Arian Smith (out, knee), Tykee Smith (out, knee), Trezmen Marshall (out, knee), Rian Davis (out, quad), Jalen Kimber (out, shoulder), Tate Ratledge (out, foot)
