3 ways from Alabama football's thrilling win vs. Georgia

Callen DeBoer's first SEC game as Alabama football head coach is in the books. The Crimson Tide defeated Georgia 41-34, coming out on top after a thrilling finish, despite leading 30-7 at the half.

What was almost entirely an embarrassing UGA comeback ended when the defense made one final stop, after Ryan Williams gave Alabama the lead back on a long touchdown.

The Crimson Tide head to Vanderbilt, while the Bulldogs face Auburn in Athens. Before that, here are three takeaways from Saturday's game.

Hot start

Alabama came out firing as soon as the ball was kicked. The Crimson Tide dominated in all aspects early Saturday.

Tide starts with the ball and cruises down the field. Jalen Milro opened the scoring with a 7-yard run.

Alabama's defense did its job, forcing a punt. Another touchdown followed quickly, on a perfect throw from Miller to Jame Miller out of the backfield, a play offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan drew perfectly.

By the time the Bulldogs finally answered, Alabama was up 28-0. Not rare, obviously, but certainly making things more difficult at UGA.

Miller didn't even throw his first incompletion until 3:55 into the second quarter, a play that video review confirmed Jeremy Bernard didn't recover.

Swarm d

After the Crimson Tide's close performance against South Florida in Week 2, defensive coordinator Ken Womack issued an ultimatum. Zero takeaway was unacceptable.

Against Wisconsin, Alabama solved the problem. As for the Georgia game, the defense impressed even more.

Womack's Crimson Tide defense got after Carson Beck, one of the preseason runners for the Heisman Trophy, grounding the UGA QB and intercepting him multiple times.

It wasn't perfect, obviously. Georgia took a late lead on the Tide, but UA's offense responded, and freshman DB Zabien Brown intercepted Beck late to end the game.

Things got a little hairy towards the end, with the Crimson Tide offense not putting up the numbers it did to start the game. However, Wommack and company got the job done, against an offense that featured plenty of star power, arguably its toughest test of the season.

still up

Perhaps the doom was too much. When Nick Saban retired, college football was ruled by Kirby Smart, the prevailing narrative for years.

Alabama's win doesn't mean the dynasty isn't dead. In fact, with the new 12-team playoff, it means less than at any previous point in college football history.

But what DeBoer and company showed Saturday was the ability to hang with anyone. The No. 1 (or No. 2, depending on your poll of choice) team in the country came into Bryant-Denny Stadium and couldn't hang.

The Crimson Tide passed a test. UA will surely rise when the AP media and coaches update the top 25 poll, moving a little closer to the top of the college football world.

Meanwhile, the Bulldogs have some soul searching to do. After the loss, preceded by a poor performance at Kentucky, perhaps the Alabama dynasty was not in imminent danger.