This Saturday, for the first time in ten years, the Alabama Crimson Tide will play the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens, Georgia.
Alabama and Georgia, two of the SEC's premier football programs, have met plenty of times over the past decade. The two school's latest matchup history includes SEC title games, national championships and, most recently, a thrilling encounter in Tuscaloosa last fall.
But it's been quite some time since the Crimson Tide paid a visit to Sanford Stadium to play between the hedges.
The last time Alabama traveled to Athens was in 2015 and it proved a memorable visit. A rainy day set the scene. Star power, headlined by running backs Derrick Henry and Nick Chubb, abounded, and the Crimson Tide's 38-10 win proved a milestone moment in both Mark Richt's final season coaching Georgia and the first title campaign of a new era for Nick Saban's Alabama dynasty.
With the Crimson Tide once again in Athens this weekend for a prime-time clash, we looked back at the lay of the land around both programs from the last time Sanford Stadium played host to an Alabama-Georgia showdown.
King Henry rumbles toward his crown
To call Derrick Henry's 2015 season for the Crimson Tide impressive would likely be an understatement. The future Baltimore Ravens star finished the year with 2,219 yards and 28 rushing touchdowns, scoring at least one touchdown in every game he played in en route to winning the Heisman Trophy. His output in Alabama's trip to Sanford Stadium was accordingly formidable.
Henry scored the Crimson Tide's first touchdown of the day in the second quarter, a 30-yard scamper that put the visitors up 10-6. He'd keep pacing the Alabama offense from there, posting 148 rushing yards on 26 carries.
A second-round selection in the ensuing spring's draft, Henry's collegiate production would carry over nicely to the professional level, with the running back still going strong in his tenth NFL season.
Nick Chubb stands out in the Georgia backfield
Henry wasn't the only star running back manning the backfield in Athens that night, though. Future NFL Pro Bowler Nick Chubb was in the midst of a remarkable start to his sophomore season with the Bulldogs.
Chubb finished the night with 146 rushing yards on 20 carries, 83 of which came on a long score late in the third quarter. His final stat line against the Crimson Tide put him at a remarkable 745 rushing yards in just five games on the young campaign -- on pace for a 1,788-yard regular season.
Unfortunately, Chubb was lost for the remainder of 2015 after he suffered a knee injury on the first play from scrimmage in Georgia's next game against the Tennessee Volunteers.
A breakout performance for Calvin Ridley
Future NFL wide receiver Calvin Ridley established himself in Alabama's offense early on as a true freshman in 2015, but didn't truly emerge as a focal point until the Crimson Tide's trip to Georgia.
Ridley had amassed 125 receiving yards across the first four games of his young career combined before facing the Bulldogs. He'd then post 120 yards on five catches against Georgia alone, including scoring his second career collegiate touchdown late in the second quarter on a 45-yard strike to make the score 24-3 Alabama.
The now-Tennessee Titans wide receiver averaged 6.7 catches and 80 yards per game for the rest of his freshman campaign after breaking out against the Bulldogs.
The Mark Richt era in Athens reaches the beginning of the end
The 2015 Alabama game felt like a potential statement moment for Richt at Georgia. The veteran head coach had guided the Bulldogs to a 4-0 start that season, and welcomed Alabama -- who had already suffered a loss against the Ole Miss Rebels two weeks prior -- to Sanford Stadium as betting favorites.
Instead, the game marked the first loss of Richt's final season with Georgia. Chubb's season-ending injury against Tennessee a week later would contribute to a second defeat. A poor showing against the Florida Gators on Halloween would prove to be strike three. Richt was out at Georgia following the regular season's conclusion.
The Bulldogs wouldn't have to look far to find their next head coach -- he, too, was on the sidelines at Sanford Stadium for Alabama's win. Crimson Tide defensive coordinator Kirby Smart, a Georgia alum, was hired soon after Richt's departure and has since led the program to a pair of national titles.
A new era of the Saban dynasty begins
Nick Saban had his Alabama dynasty well underway in 2015, with three national championships under his belt already. But the 2015 season marked the start of a new chapter of the Crimson Tide's dominance under the legendary coach: the College Football Playoff era.
Alabama was eliminated in the semifinals of the inaugural four-team playoff in 2014, and in 2015 it captured its first title under the new format. The Crimson Tide, who won after beating Georgia, dispatched the Michigan State Spartans and Clemson Tigers in the semifinal and championship game to earn their fourth title under Saban. It would be the first of three Playoff-era national championships for Alabama.