You couldn’t have set up a primetime game any better.

Two undefeated SEC powerhouses in the Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Bulldogs going at it in the middle of October under the lights of Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Ultimately, the Bulldogs pulled away with a chippy 20-17 win, sending Gump Nation home unhappy.

There was a whole lot to unpack from this game, so let’s dive right into what we took away from this mid-October slugfest.

We’ll get the most obvious part out of the way first.

Saturday was easily Dijon Lee's toughest outing of the season. Gunnar Stockton targeted Lee as much as he could, and it worked out in Georgia’s favor.

There were multiple occasions where Lee had either looked lost when covering his man, or just completely misread the play. 

One in particular was when Stockton threw a pass out to Craig Dandridge.

Lee stuck to Dandridge exceptionally, but that was only half the battle. While he was on his man, he struggled to find the ball, which allowed Dandridge to maneuver his way around Lee and haul in an explosive play.

That play ultimately led to Georgia scoring its second touchdown of the game and the first of the second half, allowing the Bulldogs to take the 17-14 lead.

Of course, the play that sealed the game was Lee’s unnecessary roughness penalty in the final three minutes, which has already made the rounds through the social media sphere. 

It was a bad penalty, and head coach Kalen DeBoer spoke on emotional maturity, and how a lapse in judgment can severely alter the outcome of a game.

We’ve seen DeBoer lose his cool on the sidelines every once in a while, but we started to see an intensity from him like we haven’t seen before.

Many will have an opinion on how he handled the discipline on Lee, when you can read his lips, telling him that he “just cost them the game.” 

Some will say it was a bad look. Others will say it brought them back to the Nick Saban days.

After watching the “Saban” documentary on ESPN+, one of the major parts of Saban’s approach to coaching was the ‘a** chewings’ he would give to players who made careless mistakes or undisciplined plays.

When DeBoer told Lee that he just cost the team the game, former Alabama star, and current Director of Player Development, Ha-Ha Clinton-Dix, who was standing next to DeBoer, made sure that Lee looked straight at DeBoer and understood what just had happened.

Clinton-Dix later posted on X referring to that exact situation, saying “Win as a team, lose as a team. All about having class in everything we do. Love these young men.”

DeBoer, who is known for his winning smile and his midwestern charm, never had a reputation for lacing into players. But a couple of years in college football’s most demanding conference will do that to you.

But as we learned from the documentary, it’s all about bringing that moment full circle and turning a lapse in judgement into a teaching moment.

Alabama’s running back situation is becoming increasingly interesting.

Heading into the season, it was clear that Daniel Hill was going to be “the guy” that the Tide leaned on.

And as we progressed into the season, it seemed like the case.

But as both true freshmen Trae’shawn Brown and EJ Crowell continue to gain momentum, there seems to be two new sheriffs in the backfield.

Over the past three weeks, Hill has only amassed 17 carries for 52 yards, and three yards per carry. 

Brown was easily the most efficient, and ended up taking a 58-yard run to Georgia’s 20-yard line that eventually led to Alabama’s first touchdown of the game.

Crowell has had a sporadic amount of carries, but anytime he’s had the ball, he’s been awfully difficult to take down. One of those plays included a heroic effort touchdown in the final seconds of the first half to help the Tide take the lead.

But based on carries alone, Brown is the guy that both DeBoer and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb seem to trust the most. 

Star wide receiver Ryan Coleman-Williams had a rough game -- and it wasn't performance-based.

First, he tweaked the knee that he had a brace on for the past two weeks, and then when he came back into the game, was forced to leave with a head injury after a questionable hit from Georgia.

Could it be that Coleman-Williams suffered a concussion? It’s undetermined. However, if that’s the case, it would be his second concussion in as many seasons.

An alarming statistic for such a young player.

With Coleman-Williams dealing with multiple apparent injuries, his status heading into next week will be worth monitoring. Before he suffered the blow to the head, it was clear that he wasn’t right. 

There was a noticeable limp to his gait and didn’t carry the same amount of explosiveness that we’re used to seeing.

Early on, it was clear that Russell was still settling into the biggest start of his young career.

Keelon Russell had happy feet for most of the first half. His throws were uncharacteristically inaccurate, his dropbacks into the pocket looked off balance, and it didn’t help that Georgia was pressuring him any chance it had.

Luckily, just as we have seen throughout the season, Russell got back into his groove.

His ability to escape pressure and turn possible negative plays into positives and even first downs has been the exact reason why he’s one of the more dynamic quarterbacks in college football.

This was Russell’s first high-profile start in his collegiate career, and he was going against a veteran in Stockton.

The jitters were expected, and he was able to limit it as he got more comfortable. For every game Russell plays in, it’s just another building block.

When you watch some of the plays that Georgia was making, it’s only human nature to wonder what is going on with the defense.

But the truth is, outside of Lee, there were no alarming factors of this defense.

The Bulldogs were always going to get theirs. Although Georgia found ways to exploit Alabama's defensive front, the performance wasn't nearly as concerning as the final score might suggest.

Stockton made some astounding throws. On multiple occasions, Alabama’s secondary was smothering the Bulldogs’ receivers, and yet, they still were able to haul in the target.

That’ll be one teaching point for the Tide this week. Find a way to limit those explosive plays, before it becomes a season-long problem.