Alabama survived Georgia’s massive late rally to earn a monumental 41-34 win over its SEC nemesis on Saturday night. The back-and-forth encounter proved the perfect case study of why it rarely pays to tweet during a game.
The Crimson Tide cruised into halftime with a 30-7 lead at Bryant-Denny Stadium, but the Bulldogs stormed back with three straight touchdowns in less than eight minutes of game time. Down by five late in the fourth quarter, Georgia took the lead when Carson Beck connected with Dillon Bell for a 67-yard score.
That advantage didn’t last long. Jalen Milroe responded by finding star freshman Ryan Williams for a 75-yard touchdown on the ensuing drive’s first play.
Fans who fell under the convenient momentum spell may have assumed Georgia would complete its epic comeback. ESPN seemingly fell into that trap.
Awful Announcing posted the screenshot of an alleged deleted tweet from the official SportsCenter account. It includes a photo of Kirby Smart replacing Tiger Woods in a viral photo of the golfer extending his hand.
Deleted but not forgotten… pic.twitter.com/wIPTPIyJ6g
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 29, 2024
“Big dawg,” SportsCenter wrote in all caps. “Georgia defeats Alabama in its largest comeback win in school history.”
The confusing part is when ESPN even had the time to send that tweet. Georgia only held the lead for a commercial break before Alabama responded in 13 seconds of game time.
Luckily, the account had a plan for each outcome. After Alabama secured the win, SportsCenter posted a Succession meme featuring Nick Saban and Kalen DeBoer when declaring “the next era” in Tuscaloosa.
SportsCenter noted that Alabama has won nine of its last 10 games against Georiga. Smart has lost as many games to his former employer (six) than to the rest of college football since 2017.
Related: Kirby Smart Was Asked About His 1-6 Record Against Alabama