ATLANTA — What will Monday night's titanic College Football Playoff championship game between Alabama and Georgia really mean in the world of college football when the smoke (and confetti) clears at Mercedes-Benz Stadium?
From the Georgia perspective, we’ll get back that...
But, stating some of the obvious first, it will mean very little if the Tide rolls over the Bulldogs. If that happens, Georgia will have become just the latest victim of the Alabama juggernaut that will have captured its fifth national title in nine years, a record in the modern poll era going back to 1936. (Bear Bryant and Alabama own the current record with five titles in 16 years from 1963-1979).
Georgia will have been left in the wake of the Tide yet again as it tries, like so many others over the past decade, to become the new Top Dog (pun intended) in college football. Clemson, Notre Dame, Texas, and LSU all fell to the Tide in championship games since Nick Saban assumed control in Tuscaloosa.
Notre Dame and LSU have been up and down since, with the Tigers eventually moving out Les Miles while Texas dropped off the map completely after its loss to the Tide in 2009 and saw Mack Brown become the scapegoat in Austin. Brian Kelly is still at the helm of the Irish but have records of 8-5, 10-3, 4-8, and 10-3 and no top 10 poll finishes in that span to their credit.
Only Clemson, which knocked off Bama in last year’s thrilling title game on the final play of the game, has been able to sustain any sort of excellence. (But the Tide got their revenge on Monday in the semifinals.)
Alabama is the only team to have advanced to all four of the CFP playoffs since its inception. Clemson has three CFP appearances and Oklahoma and Ohio State two each. A Bama victory on Monday night will give the Tide two CFP titles and resolidify themselves as the Kings of the Hill of college football.
Now, back to the Bulldogs...
Georgia had a shot in 2012 to dethrone the Tide but lost a gut-wrenching SEC Championship game that began a downward spiral. The Bulldogs had another chance in 2015 but were steamrolled at Sanford Stadium (38-10) in a regular season affair that may have become the eventual catalyst for Mark Richt’s ouster and the impetus to bring in former Bulldog standout player and Alabama assistant Kirby Smart.
And while Monday night’s showdown admittedly is just one game in the grand scheme of things, its implications could send shockwaves through the college football landscape if Georgia can come away with its first national title since beating Notre Dame in the 1981 Sugar Bowl. This one could be on a different scale on several fronts than last year’s Clemson win over the Tide.
A Bulldogs victory would show the rest of the SEC in particular that it is possible to chop down (another pun intended playing off the Dogs ‘keep chopping’ slogan) the tallest tree in the forest. Sure, Auburn has bagged several wins over its arch-rivals over the past decade, but rivalry games don’t necessarily count. As an example, Georgia Tech has beaten the Bulldogs two of the last four meetings but no one would suggest that the Yellow Jackets are on the same plane as Georgia.
The 2012 matchup in the SEC Championship game between the two teams saw two equally talented teams on the field. The 2015 beatdown by the Tide showed just how far the two programs had drifted in just three seasons. For Georgia to truly be considered a permanent fixture atop the SEC, a win over the Tide is a must.
It also would serve notice to the Tide that not only is there a conference foe to worry about but there is a new national player on the scene. And Bama fans and the program’s leaders are always quick to point out, they play for national titles, not SEC championships.
More importantly, however, Saban and Smart, a long-time Saban protege, know the REAL victory won on Monday night will be on the recruiting front. Smart was a master recruiter in his nine seasons with Saban and the Tide. He has brought that skill to Athens and going into Monday’s showdown the Bulldogs sit with the No. 1 recruiting class after last month’s early signing period. A victory on the field may sway even more top-level talent the Dogs’ way. Alabama is fifth nationally after the early-signing period, according to 247Sports.
Again, it’s just one game. But Saban and Smart both know that more than just a national title is at stake on Monday. Both have stated repeatedly that titles are won on the recruiting trail long before a snap is taken on any given Saturday.
Smart addressed this issue during a post-Rose Bowl teleconference on Monday.
“Well, I think any time you get to play on the national stage and get national exposure, it certainly helps,” he said. “When you start talking about kids that want to play in the SEC, they want to play on the big stage...[and] there's nowhere better to play than Georgia.”
It’s unclear how much longer Saban, who is now 66, will want to keep coaching. He certainly doesn’t look like he is ready to slow down or call it quits anytime soon. He has not hinted one way or the other when asked.
Smart, in just his second season, has not admitted, and probably never will, that they may be ahead of schedule on rebuilding the program. But, he and the Bulldogs could show the college football world on Monday that not only are they not scared of the Tide, but that they are ready to be considered equals on the field.
Are we about to witness a complete changing of the guard? Smart is already winning the recruiting wars. If he and the Bulldogs can pull off a win on Monday, they will have, at least for now, knocked the King off the hill.
