Alabama and Georgia are back at it in Week 5 with another edition of their classic college football rivalry. The 2025 matchup will go down in Athens, almost exactly one year after Ryan Williams introduced himself to the world with a breakout performance in the Crimson Tide's thrilling 41-34 victory. Ahead of the marquee Alabama-Georgia Week 5 college football matchup, we will be making our Ryan Williams predictions.
The last time Alabama and Georgia met, Williams exploded with six catches, 177 receiving yards and one spectacular 75-yard touchdown. In many ways, the game was his coming-out party, forcing college football fans to pay attention to Alabama's star receiver.
One year later, similar stakes are on the line for both teams. Although it is not the same top-five matchup as it was in 2024, both teams remain ranked and enter the game on similar win streaks.
Both teams enter Week 5 off a bye, with Georgia looking to defend its 3-0 undefeated record, and Alabama attempting to sustain its momentum since opening the year with an upset loss to Florida State. Each is also coming off a significant win, with the Bulldogs outlasting No. 15 Tennessee, and the Tide demolishing Wisconsin in Week 3.
It is still early in the year, but a lot is already on the line as conference play begins. With the matchup growing in hype each day, here are our Ryan Williams predictions for the Alabama-Georgia Week 5 college football contest.
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Ryan Williams torches Georgia again for 200 receiving yards
Ryan Williams began his college football career with a 100-yard performance against Western Kentucky, but it was not until Alabama faced Georgia that his career truly took off. Williams landed in Tuscaloosa as one of the most-anticipated recruits in recent program history, and he delivered on those expectations when the Tide needed him most.
One year later, Williams will be facing several members of the same defense that he torched in 2024. Daylen Everette, Joenel Aguerro and Daniel Harris are all returning starters in Georgia's secondary. Expect them to seek revenge, but for now, Williams has the upper hand.
Williams got off to a slow start to the 2025 season, posting just 30 yards against Florida State before sitting out Week 2. However, he returned with a vengeance and lit up Wisconsin with 165 receiving yards and two touchdowns in Week 3.
Williams tends to do his best work against man coverage, which he should face against Georgia. After what he did to them a year ago, the Bulldogs will likely bracket him for the majority of the game, but Alabama found creative ways to get him the ball in Week 3.
Williams struggled with consistency at times in 2024, a problem the team hoped he would address in year two. Week 5 will be his first opportunity to prove that. He broke out with a career performance against the Bulldogs in his freshman season and has another prime opportunity to do it again.
Sometimes, a player just has another team's number. Perhaps that is the case with Williams and Georgia.
Ryan Williams hangs three touchdowns on Georgia
Whenever Williams touches the ball, it tends to be a big play. He struggles at times to be a consistent, high-volume No. 1 receiver, but he never fails to deliver in big moments.
A walking highlight reel, Williams tends to create at least one eye-catching clip per game, and it always seems to occur when Alabama needs it most. In Week 3, it was a flea-flicker screen pass that he took 75 yards to the house. Against Georgia in 2024, it was a 75-yard deep pass from Jalen Milroe that he snagged over cornerback Julian Humphrey before spinning his way to the end zone.
ABSOLUTE SCENES IN TUSCALOOSA!!!
RYAN WILLIAMS WITH A 75-YARD TD TO RETAKE THE LEAD! pic.twitter.com/pvc9ML7E7G
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 29, 2024
Alabama knows that Williams is arguably the best player in college football when he has the ball in his hands, and it is doing everything it can to make that happen. Williams is fourth on the team with 10 touches, despite playing just 92 of 202 total offensive snaps.
Whether he is aggressive early or needs to chase points late, Kalen DeBoer is going to call Williams' number. Georgia had a difficult time stopping him in 2024 and will struggle again in 2025.
Williams has not even been asked to run the ball yet in 2025. He fielded four carries as a freshman, turning two of them into scores.
So far, Williams has turned 12 of his 62 career touches into touchdowns, an absurd 19.35 percent clip. At that rate, all he needs is eight to ten touches to reach the end zone two or three times.
Alabama leaves Athens with double-digit win over Georgia
Everything about the 2025 Alabama-Georgia matchup favors the Bulldogs. The game will be in Athens, where the No. 4 team in the country has won 34 consecutive games.
However, this matchup has historically favored Alabama, especially in recent years. The Tide have won nine of the last 10 meetings between the two, including five of the last six postseason matchups.
Both teams are fundamentally different from the way they were in 2024 and have gotten off to contrasting starts to the season. Ryan Williams is one of the few key players returning in the matchup, and he was the single most crucial factor in Alabama's 41-34 win in Tuscaloosa.
If Williams shows out in a similar fashion — or even close to what he did to Kirby Smart's defense in 2024 — it will be difficult for Georgia to keep up. The Bulldogs are coming off a 44-point outing against Tennessee, but they trailed by 14 points at one point in that game before mounting a comeback. They nearly pulled off a similar feat against Alabama last season, but this is a more talented and disciplined Tide defense.
In many ways, this is a legacy game for Williams. Many fans labeled him a one-game wonder for his performance against Georgia in 2024. He looked like his old self against Wisconsin, but Williams needs to back it up with another strong performance against an elite defense.
Come Saturday night, Williams will quickly remind fans why he was a preseason Heisman Trophy candidate and lead Alabama to a shockingly dominant win over Georgia.
