The Bulldog faithful will blackout Sanford Stadium Saturday when No. 17 Alabama makes the trip to Athens for a Top-25 showdown with No. 5 Georgia.
The Georgia student section, known as the Spike Squad, announced Sept. 17 in a post on X that Bulldog fans should “be loud, be early and be in black.” Along with the announcement came a graphic containing the phrase “Bama Blackout.”
Alabama fans will hope that history repeats itself, while Bulldog fans will hope that this year’s potential blackout can reverse the curse of 2008.
The two teams will meet exactly 17 years to the date since a 2008 matchup between the sides. Alabama, then ranked No. 8, traveled to the Peach State in Year 2 of the Nick Saban era for an early-season top-10 SEC matchup with the No. 3 Bulldogs.
Leading up to the contest, Georgia announced it would wear black jerseys against the Crimson Tide after two successful ‘blackout games’ in 2007. In the black jerseys that season, Georgia secured a win over then-No. 18 Auburn — its second home triumph over the Tigers since 1991 — and a dominant 41-10 victory over No. 10 Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl.
Former Alabama head strength and conditioning coach Scott Cochran told his players during a practice before the game that Georgia was wearing black because it was going to a funeral.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, Cochran was correct. The Crimson Tide dished out a drubbing so violent to the Bulldogs on their home turf that the game became known as “The Blackout.”
The Crimson Tide led at halftime 31-0, leaving the Sanford crowd in shock. The Crimson Tide turned down the intensity in the second half, winning 41-30, but put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter when it led by 24 points with 4:13 remaining.
In typical fashion, Saban wasn’t satisfied with the victory after the team let Georgia make it a 31-17 game in the third quarter.
“If you lose your intensity in a game like this at halftime and you let Georgia get back in it, there are lessons to learn,” Saban said. “I’m looking at what we need to do to become better.”
Following the game, Georgia moved away from its black uniforms, having donned them sparingly since the loss. The team wore a black alternate jersey in three games in 2020 and most recently in its 2021 Peach Bowl win over Cincinnati.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, a former defensive coordinator at Alabama who played a role in several of the program’s national championship wins, elected to keep the Bulldogs in their traditional home and away uniforms following the 2020 season.
Smart said that some of the places he’s played at had great atmospheres and didn’t need extra help getting a crowd motivated.
“They never change their uniform,” Smart said. “They’re traditionalist. If it takes changing the uniform to get people fired up, then I’m at the wrong place.”
No. 17 Alabama will take on No. 5 Georgia in its first SEC contest of the year on Saturday. The game is slated to kick off at 6:30 p.m. CT and can be streamed on ABC.
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