ATLANTA — Nick Saban once famously declared that good defense no longer beats good offense in college football. That’s why Saban hired a series of coordinators to modernize Alabama’s offense and recruited quarterbacks and skill players to make plays. Then Georgia’s great defense beat Alabama’s great offense for the 2021 national championship. Kirby Smart had finally triumphed over Saban by building a better defensive machine than his old boss.
The Saban/Smart partnership produced Alabama defenses that statistically were better than Georgia’s 2021 unit. But that was before the tempo/spread/run-pass-option formula took over college football. Stopping opponents is harder than ever now. Smart hacked the system in 2021 by winning it all with an elite defense and not-so-elite offense. Now the big question is whether Smart can pull it off again.
There’s little chance that Georgia’s defense will be as good this season as last. Regression from greatness is the norm. UGA’s specific circumstances make a defensive decline even more likely.
