TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Georgia football’s last loss to Alabama knocked it out of the playoff.

Saturday night’s 41-34 defeat — another classic chapter between these powerhouse programs — won’t by itself.

For one thing, it’s a 12-team playoff now.

“There’s a lot of season left,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said of his own team after ensuring that Georgia won’t go 12-0 in the regular season for a fourth straight year.

The Bulldogs are 3-1, 1-1 in the SEC.

“We’re definitely not out of it, especially with our season ahead,” quarterback Carson Beck told reporters.

Georgia football's road ahead

Georgia's toughest games now after Ole Miss was upset at home to Kentucky look like at Texas and home against Tennessee.

Then maybe, just maybe a rematch with Alabama in the SEC championship game, if not in the playoff bracket.

Well, not if Georgia’s four turnovers Saturday — including three Beck interceptions — is a sign of things to come.

Did Georgia’s second-half defensive adjustments in the top-five matchup bode well for a possible next meeting with Alabama or does the 8.42 yards per play tell the real story?

That was the most given up in a game in Kirby Smart’s nine seasons as head coach, per cfbstats.com data. No surprise then that Georgia’s 30-7 halftime deficit was its largest since 31-0 to Ole Miss early in Smart’s first season in 2016.

Clearly, Georgia won’t face another quarterback on their schedule quite like Jalen Milroe, who had 491 yards of offense — 374 passing and 117 running and four total touchdowns.

“We were more aggressive in the first half and took some chances,” Smart said. “Probably got hit on some things — they did a good job of packaging run and pass with him …He's really hard to defend. So, you have to pick your poison. Do you want the guy to take off and beat you running? Do you want to play loose coverage and try to keep eyes on him so he doesn't take off? He ran the ball well on the perimeter, and we lost contain and then he also threw the ball well, which made it really tough. In the second half, we played some tighter coverage, we made some stops, and we possessed the ball in offense. When you make stops, you give yourself a chance."

When Georgia's offense came to life

The Bulldogs were one-dimensional on offense and going down 28-0 didn’t help that.

Georgia rushed for 80 yards on 26 carries, a 3.1 average and passed for 439, its most since racking up 439 in a 49-3 win over Oregon to open the 2022 season.

Georgia’s offense finally got clicking in the second half when Alabama had a seemingly commanding lead.

That’s when Beck completed five pass plays of more than 30 yards including 47 yards to Arian Smith (six catches, 132 yards, TD) and Dillon Bell (five catches for 100 yards, TD).

Beck was 27 for 50 for 439 yards, the most by a Georgia QB since Eric Zeier had 441 against Vanderbilt in 1994. He threw all three of his touchdown passes in the second half.

“We were more explosive, but so were they,” Smart said.

Beck’s 67-yard touchdown to Bell with 2:31 to go briefly gave Georgia a 34-33 lead. Georgia thought it could hit the play by taking advantage of Alabama’s aggressive safeties.

Georgia football coach Kirby Smart second-guesses approach to Alabama's Ryan Williams

Then Milroe answered back on the next play with a 75-yard touchdown to fabulous freshman Ryan Williams, who had 6 catches for 177 yards.

Williams made a leaping, spinning catch on the sideline behind Julian Humprhey and eluded KJ Bolden and Humphrey on the way to the end zone. Earlier, Williams made a catch after bobbling the ball on a 54-yard gain.

“If I had to do it over again, we would challenge him more and get up on him,” Smart said. “We were off a lot, but the play he made was actually in press coverage there late. And, you know, that's OK to give that up. That's hard, but we caught that ball on them. But you've got to tackle. You've got to get him on the ground.”

Smart liked what he saw after Georgia was down but it turned out not all the way out.

“I didn't want to walk off the field without telling each one of them how much I appreciated how they responded to it, to some pretty tough adversity,” he said.

Georgia football's Alabama struggles

Since the start of 2021 season, Smart has only lost three games.

All have been to Alabama — in the 2021 and 2023 SEC championship game — and now this one.

Smart is 1-6 against Alabama — 1-5 against Nick Saban and now 0-1 against DeBoer.

“They've got a great program,” Smart said. “I got an immense amount of respect for them. They do a great job. I mean, Nick's recruited good players, Kalen's got good players in here. It's a tough battle. Of those ones, I mean, two of them have been here, you know? And they've been tough, they've been really tough battles.”

Said DeBoer, who took Washington to the national championship game last season and is 4-0 after winning his first SEC game: “We expect to win games, these games.”

Georgia will get Alabama between the hedges in Athens for the first time under Smart in 2025.

Maybe, just maybe, the teams will see each other before then.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Another Georgia-Alabama classic. Will there be a round 2 this season?