No. 1 Georgia will take on No. 8 Alabama for the SEC championship Saturday afternoon, and the stakes are as high as ever.
Although the Bulldogs (12–0) are in excellent shape to reach the College Football Playoff, Alabama (11–1) absolutely needs a win to stay alive and probably needs some help as well, with Michigan, Washington, Florida State, Oregon and Texas all ahead of the Crimson Tide in the latest rankings and playing for conference titles of their own this weekend.
The Alabama-Georgia series has ramped up to another level since Kirby Smart, who served as Nick Saban’s defensive coordinator at Alabama from 2008 to ’15, left the Crimson Tide to lead the Bulldogs. He has succeeded in building a program that rivals the Saban’s Alabama dynasty, and right now, former ESPN analyst and Georgia great David Pollack believes Smart has surpassed Saban as a coach on the field.
