Happy Monday, everyone. After knocking off Georgia, the rat poison is in abundance. Kalen doesn’t seem to mind, though.

It’s hard to win in the SEC. And no one knows that more now than Kalen DeBoer, who watched his team’s 28-point lead evaporate, exhaling only after a 75-yard touchdown pass from Milroe to freshman wide receiver Ryan Williams, and a game-sealing interception by freshman cornerback Zabien Brown.

It’s a signature win for DeBoer. But his message is that it’s not Alabama’s definitive win.

“We expect to win games, these games,” DeBoer said. “So of course, the locker room’s full of excitement. But I also want to make sure that we understand that’s the expectation.”

Kalen wasn’t afraid to follow Saban. Unlike some coaches who ran to the west coast, he wasn’t afraid of the SEC. He obviously wasn’t afraid of Georgia. So, there’s no reason to think that he will be affected by the expectations that come with a #1 ranking. Alabama is still behind Texas in the Coaches’ poll but took the top spot in the AP, and several power rankings.

Alabama returned to No. 1 in The Associated Press college football poll for the first time in two years on Sunday following its dizzying victory over Georgia, making this 16 of 17 seasons the Crimson Tide has held the top spot at some point.

UNLV, unbeaten through four games for the first time in its Division I history, cracked the rankings for the first time ever just days after losing its starting quarterback over a NIL dispute. The Rebels are tied for No. 25 with Texas A&M.

Alabama received 40 of 63 first-place votes and leapfrogged three teams to take over No. 1 from Texas, which tussled with Mississippi State deep into the second half as a five-touchdown favorite and slipped to No. 2. The Longhorns got 19 first-place votes, well off last week’s 44.

Alabama had owned Georgia with Nick Saban as coach, and now it’s Kalen DeBoer’s time. It was DeBoer’s debut in the rivalry, and this one was wild until the end with Alabama holding on to win 41-34 after leading 28-0 in the first half. A pair of true freshmen came up huge for the Crimson Tide (4-0). Receiver Ryan Williams scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 75-yard catch and spin move to the end zone. And then with Georgia driving to potentially tie the score, cornerback Zabien Brown intercepted Georgia quarterback Carson Beck in the end zone.

Alabama takes over as the new No. 1 in the USA TODAY Sports NCAA Re-Rank 1-134 after Saturday night’s memorable win against Georgia.

The Crimson Tide make a four-spot jump from last week while the Bulldogs drop four spots to No. 5. This pair sandwiches No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Ohio State and No. 4 Tennessee.

Alabama leads the Longhorns by just a hair. Texas has a very good road win against Michigan and a second Power Four victory against Mississippi State in the program’s SEC debut. The Crimson Tide’s win on Saturday is the best by any team so far this season, however, and they also won at Wisconsin in non-conference play. In addition, Alabama’s win against Western Kentucky trumps the Longhorns’ Group of Five wins against Colorado State, Texas-San Antonio and Louisiana-Monroe.

Paul Myerberg of USA Today was impressed.

Alabama started with a bang. The Tide led 21-0 after the first quarter and 28-0 not long into the second, taking advantage of one short field after an interception but otherwise slicing through the Georgia defense with touchdown drives of 70, 84 and 67 yards. This opening barrage sent a statement that’s impossible to ignore: Nick Saban may be gone, but Alabama hasn’t gone anywhere.

The marriage of DeBoer and quarterback Milroe continues to thrive, as expected. Milroe had 374 yards passing, a team-best 117 yards rushing and five total touchdowns. Williams led Alabama with 177 receiving yards, acrobatically dodging Georgia defenders with a series of highlight-reel plays that have made him one of the brightest young stars in recent SEC history. Again, a reminder: Williams is only 17 years old.

REMINDER.

Kennington Smith III has your film study, and the offensive line gets its deserved flowers.

It was a solid outing for Alabama’s offensive line, which held Georgia without a sack and largely kept Milroe comfortable in the pocket. That’s an encouraging sign for a group only making its second start together. According to TruMedia, the lineup of Kadyn Proctor-Booker-Parker Brailsford–Jaeden Roberts–Elijah Pritchett played all 65 offensive snaps on Saturday. This will be the full-time group moving forward.

This quick snapshot shows the growth in a few weeks. South Florida caused headaches all night with pressures and stunts along the front. Georgia tried to bring pressure throughout the night, only to find an offensive line communicating and executing protections at a high level. Milroe was given clean pockets and wasn’t forcing anything downfield. He took what was given underneath, and it led to a lot of positive yardage.

The game atmosphere was incredible, by all accounts.

And if the lights and ops weren’t enough to thoroughly impress you, the game itself certainly did the trick.

Alabama raced out to an early 28-0 lead in the game and it appeared the Crimson Tide were going to walk away with the game. Not so fast, as Herbstreit’s College GameDay co-host Lee Corso would say.

Georgia stormed back to even take a small fourth quarter lead before Alabama finally responded and put the game away. But it led ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum to declare it the best SEC game he’s ever seen.

“I’ve covered the SEC for more than 40 years,” Finebaum said. “You can see that on my face right here, but I believe that is the best college football game in the SEC I have seen during all those years. I know we often get hung up on being prisoners of the moment but that is an exaggeration to say that we are in this case.”

Last, King Henry steamrolled Buffalo last night, starting with the very first play.

Watching those DBs chase him reminds of a Pop Warner game where that one kid who hit the early growth spurt has the football.

That’s about it for today. Have a great week.

Roll Tide.