Alabama vs Georgia: College Football Playoff National Championship prediction, game preview, how to watch
Alabama vs Georgia: College Football Playoff National Championship How To Watch
Date: Monday, January 10
Game Time: 7:00 ET
Venue: Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN
How To Watch: ESPN, Live stream on ESPN+
Record: Alabama (13-1), Georgia (13-1)
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Alabama vs Georgia College Football Playoff National Championship Preview
– Let’s do this again. Alabama was playing for its playoff life in the SEC Championship, was razor-sharp, explosive, and rolled to a 41-24 win back in early December. Bryce Young threw for 421 yards and locked up the Heisman, the slightly-maligned defense played one of its best games of the year, and the team earned the No. 1 spot in the College Football Playoff.
– Alabama was nice to Cincinnati. Rested, prepared, and focused, it had the game won after the opening drive in the 27-6 Cotton Bowl victory. Now it’s in the College Football Playoff National Championship for the sixth time in seven seasons – winning three of its previous five – as Nick Saban goes for his eighth national title overall.
To do that, Bama has to make it eight in a row over Georgia – the last Bulldog win was back in 2007. The streak includes two epic SEC Championships – 2012 and 2018 – and one all-time classic of a national title finish in a 26-23 overtime win to close out the 2017 season.
Yeah, the “Alabama is in Georgia’s head” is part of the narrative. How do we know?
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– Georgia trounced Michigan 34-11 in a College Football Playoff Orange Bowl semifinal that wasn’t even that close. The Dawgs players and coaches were all complimentary to the Wolverines and didn’t show a lick of disrespect after the game, but everyone had a faraway stare – it’s Alabama time.
Head coach Kirby Smart demanded to not be doused with Gatorade, the celebration was muted, and the team that was No. 1 and dominant for most of the regular season before the SEC Championship game instantly pivoted to the task ahead.
– 1980. Georgia finished the season 12-0 behind its freshman sensation running back Herschel Walker, closing out with a victory over Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl for the national championship. It had another shot at a title in 1982, but lost to Penn State in the Sugar Bowl.
That was about it until coming so achingly close to getting by Alabama in Atlanta in early 2018, but over 40 years of frustration can finally be eased with one big win.
– The College Football Playoff needs this. Since this began, 13 of the 16 CFP semifinal games were relative blowouts, and after a terrific start with an entertaining Ohio State win over Oregon followed by three straight classics – Alabama over Clemson, Clemson over Alabama, Alabama over Georgia – the national championships have been total duds.
– America might be bored with more SEC teams, but Alabama and Georgia were the two best teams this season. Either Bama throws another national title on the pile and Nick Saban starts to push into John Wooden territory as – maybe – the greatest college coach ever, or Kirby Smart finally translates all the loaded recruiting classes and years of a program failing to finish the drill – to use a Mark Richt term – to make it six SEC teams to win a national championship in the BCS/CFP era.
Why Georgia Will Win
Why Alabama Will Win
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