TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Every time Nick Saban’s Alabama faces Kirby Smart’s Georgia, there are major national implications.
That’s what makes it one of college football’s great current rivalries, even if it lacks a nickname like the “Iron Bowl” or the “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.”
No. 1 Georgia and No. 8 Alabama meet Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium (4 p.m., CBS) for the first time since the former topped the latter in the College Football Playoff Championship game in January 2022. Before that evening, Saban’s Crimson Tide had defeated Smart’s Bulldogs in their first four meetings. Alabama had won seven consecutive over Georgia, including three matchups in the SEC Championship game and one in the national championship game in January 2018.
There’s more than an SEC title at stake Saturday. Georgia must win or else it could – believe it or not – be left out of the four-team CFP. Alabama needs to win for any CFP consideration. It sets up for another memorable game between the schools who’ve dominated college football over recent years.
Asked about how “healthy” the Georgia-Alabama rivalry is for the sport, Saban responded:
“I think that all these sort of – you call them ‘rivalry games’ – some of them are instilled in the culture, like the Auburn game. The Iron Bowl. That’s part of the culture. People have been watching that game for how many years? It’s always going to be that. Then some of these other sort of ‘rivalry games’ – as you call them – aren’t traditional rivalries, but because there are two really good teams playing, and it’s been historically that way for a while, they become those kind of games. That’s kind of what this has become.”
After Saturday, Georgia and Alabama will have combined to win 10 of the 12 SEC Championship games starting in 2012 (Alabama has seven titles in that span; Georgia has two). Dating to 2000, the only other SEC programs to win conference titles are LSU (five), Florida (three) and Auburn (three). But Georgia has ascended to another stratosphere under Smart, formerly Saban’s long-time defensive coordinator, and has become the only program to find recent success comparable with Alabama’s.
Two years ago, the implications weren’t so wide-ranging in the championship game. Both teams were expected to qualify for the CFP regardless of the result, which was a dominating Alabama victory. That was Georgia’s most-recent loss, as it has accrued a 29-game win streak across its back-to-back championship seasons and this one.
“You don’t get an opportunity to play against a team who has won 29 straight games very often, which speaks to their quality,” Saban said. “But it also speaks to the challenge and opportunity that our team has in preparing for a team like this.”
Alabama leads the all-time series against Georgia, 42-26-4, including a 7-4 mark against the Bulldogs since 2000.
