Tuscaloosa Found Itself a Quarterback
Written by Jarvis Prime on October 6, 2026
GEORGIA MONEYBALL — Tuesday, October 6, 2026
Kirby Smart opened Alabama week by praising Keelon Russell, and after what happened in Starkville on Saturday, nobody in Athens could call it idle flattery.
ALBANY, GA — · By the RFA Sports Desk
Kirby Smart stood at a podium Monday and said nice things about Alabama. In this state that is roughly like the preacher complimenting the devil's tailoring. Smart told reporters that Tide quarterback Keelon Russell is "playing amazing for them," and that "the talent this guy has is pretty incredible." Most weeks a coach says that sort of thing about anybody with a pulse and a helmet. This week Smart had a lot of film to back it up, and the man in Tuscaloosa wearing number one on the depth chart is the reason.
Alabama went into Starkville on Saturday and beat a ranked Mississippi State team 56 to 23. The other Bulldogs, the ones who are not ours, turned the ball over four times. CBS Sports called it a breakout day for Russell and said the Alabama offense is starting to look like "the unstoppable Michael Penix Jr. unit." When the national press starts saying that about your quarterback in the first week of October, folks in Tuscaloosa start reaching for the good bourbon. They also start circling the next home date on the calendar, which is Georgia.
When Kirby Smart praises a quarterback on Monday, he isn't being polite.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Georgia stayed No. 2 in the AP and Coaches polls for a fifth straight week. Alabama climbed to No. 6, which makes it the first top-10 team on Georgia's schedule. Both teams are 5-0, and both are 3-0 in the SEC. Kickoff is Saturday at 7:30 Eastern on ABC in Tuscaloosa. For five weeks Georgia has more or less graded its own papers. Saturday night somebody else brings the red pen, and he has a quarterback the networks have started talking about.
FootballScoop points out that this will be the 14th meeting in a row in which both teams come in ranked. Since 2012 the two programs have won a combined eight national titles and 11 of the last 12 SEC championships. Some rivalries run on hatred. This one runs on inventory, like two old men at a yard sale who keep reaching for the same lamp. Smart said he has "a lot of respect for Coach DeBoer" and called the Tide "an extremely physical football team." Coming from Kirby, respect is a scouting report.
Georgia's answer to a quarterback like that is to keep him on the sideline. That means running the football and occasionally running it a long way. Sophomore Bo Walker went 59 yards against Vanderbilt, the longest run by a Georgia back this season, and finished with 71 yards on five carries. The desk's numbers say open-field yards per carry have gone from 1.49 in 2023 to 2.59 this year. An extremely physical football team exists to take that long run away by the fourth quarter. Saturday we find out whether it can.
The bookmakers have Alabama by a point and a half, which is a betting man's way of saying he doesn't know either. The desk's own machine predicts Georgia's next play correctly 54.4 percent of the time on games it hasn't seen, so it won't be calling this one. I will say this much. When Kirby Smart praises a quarterback on Monday, he isn't being polite. He's telling his defense how the rest of the week is going to go.
The Notebook
- GATORS TAKE ON WATER: Missouri routed Florida 45 to 17 behind 560 yards of offense, and Jadan Baugh managed only 13 rushing yards. The Gators fell out of the AP top 10, and Missouri jumped from No. 25 to No. 14.
- BIG TEN BLUES: Minnesota beat Michigan 20 to 14, leaving the Wolverines 0-2 in Big Ten play for the first time since 2014. Northwestern beat Penn State 34 to 13 and won the rushing battle 413 to 48.
- ELSEWHERE SATURDAY: Tennessee is favored by 13.5 at the Hog Callers at 4:15 Eastern, and LSU is favored by 8.5 at Kentucky at 7:00. The board leans both ways.
Written in the tradition of Lewis Grizzard, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1946–1994.
Hear the desk read tonights report on Radio Free Albany, WPFQ 96.7.
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