SEC rivalries generally have the most attention, but one in particular is what the whole nation anticipates every single year: the Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Georgia Bulldogs.
The clash of bluebloods is more than just an edge-of-the-seat game. It also essentially sifts the crème de la crème in the league for the season.
Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt believes that the winner of this season’s Alabama vs. Georgia will be a sure-shot contender in the SEC Championship game this season.
“This is an obvious one, I don’t have to go into this deeply at all. This game is a classic. It is always great,” Klatt said on Monday’s episode of The Joel Klatt Show.
“Winner of this game likely goes to the SEC Championship. I don’t see the winner of this game not being a Top 2 seed in the SEC. So that’s why it’s vital, really, and so important.”
Both Kirby Smart and Kalen DeBoer will go all out to win this one. DeBoer, because he needs to have a winning season or else he will start feeling the heat in Tuscaloosa.
And Smart because he already lost to DeBoer last season, and not to mention, against Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff. Winning this alone won’t be enough to be Smart’s redemption, but it will be a part of it.
“They beat them last year. If the Tide beat the ‘Dawgs again this year, it’s like, ‘Wait, what’s going on with Kirby and Georgia?’ They lost to Alabama in DeBoer’s first year. They lost to Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff. Is Georgia still Georgia? I think they need to win this game to be considered that. If Bama wins, by the way, a bunch of winnable games after this. So Kirby and the Dawgs will be ready between the hedges.”
Getting a top 5 seeding or into the SEC Championship will obviously take more work than just winning this game, but whoever wins this one will most likely breeze through the rest of their schedule.