CFP PRIMER (Championship edition): All Hail the King, whichever one that is
By GRAHAM DUNN
If you are a fan of the Southeastern Conference, the world hates you.
If you pull for the Crimson Tide, the masses wish a defeat on you so bad there is no recovery.
If you are a fan of Georgia, don’t get used to everyone pulling for your team. It goes away as soon as Monday comes to a conclusion.
This match is another thorn in the side of the average college fan. There is a no way to avoid the pain.
For those of us living in football’s chosen land, we are in the middle of Roman Times in that whatever we want, we take. Whatever wishes we have, they are granted.
No need to hide the women and children, this is about glory and honor of the victory…. It just means more?
Damn right it does.
We have full reign of power and no matter what methods are changed, the situation stays the same.
The South owns college football.
You want to point to the league’s bowl record in the last few weeks? Go ahead, it means nothing. Half of those teams were playing with half of their team. Anything before New Year’s Eve is fodder.
It’s like the boxing prelims before the heavyweight championship of the world. First it’s the bantam weight followed by the light heavy’s followed by Ali-Frasier. Or Duran-Leonard, if you prefer.
It has been proven time and time again and will be again when the attention (or at least what’s left of it) shifts to Indianapolis, where the SEC will take the 35-pound trophy out into the Indiana snow and roll around in gleeful fashion, knowing it is to return home to the sunny south.
It will be worse if the Tide wins the title for a third time (CFP style). The 30-plus windows in Lucas Oil Stadium will shatter just from the insolent behavior of the fans, mostly from the losers.
Tide fans are used to it. It goes with the territory.
National media has spent the last days finding every reason why the defending champs would not win it again. The best of the excuses – Georgia wasn’t ready the last time.
Really? Can’t you do better than that?
In a way, that excuse hurts the Dogs should they win on Monday…. If they lose, were they not focused? Did they not care?
With the rat poison flying around again like it did in December, it’s hard not to believe the Tide players are smiling again. Nick Saban doesn’t falter as an underdog.
But is that not falling into the same trap of making assumptions? There is a lot of that going on this week.
Make no mistake – everyone who has made predictions one way or the other all have it figured out by the time the game ends… and take credit for something they didn’t say.
That’s also a Southern tradition.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
(1) Alabama (13-1, 7-1 SEC) vs. (3) Georgia (13-1, 8-0 SEC)
JAN 10 7 p.m. CST • ESPN
Indianapolis, IN • Lucas Oil Stadium (70,000)
Series: Bama leads, 42-25-4 (Last meeting – Dec. 4, 2021,Bama (ATL), 41-24 – SEC Championship)
CFP championship history (appearances): Bama - 6 (Last – 2020 season: Def. Ohio State, 52-24); Georgia- 2 (Last – 2017 season - Lost to Alabama, 26-23 (OT))
Last championship of any kind (total): Bama 2021 – CFP (18); Georgia 1980 – AP/UPI (5)
Last game: Bama def. Cincinnati (Cotton Bowl), 27-6; Georgia def. Michigan (Orange Bowl), 31-11
What about The CFP National Championship game
Georgia is the second team to reach the CFP championship without winning its conference championship. Alabama was the other in 2017, and beat Georgia in the final.
Georgia became the first team to score in the first five possessions in a College Football Playoff game in the win over Michigan.
With the win over Cincinnati, Alabama has 59 straight victories when leading by 10 or more points, the longest streak in FBS.
Georgia is a 3-point favorite in the game. The favorite has beat the spread the last two games but the underdog beat the spread in the previous five championships. All but one game has been over the total, the first one between Oregon and Ohio State. Monday’s total is set at 52.5.
Nick Saban increased his winning streak against coaches faced for the first time to 36 with the win over Luke Fickell and Cincinnati.
Out of 434 rushing attempts against Georgia, only three touchdowns have been scored. One of those was by Bryce Young in the SEC Championship.
Georgia has led each of the last four meetings against Alabama, including a 13-point lead in the 2018 championship game at halftime.
RRS Prediction: Georgia 24, Alabama 21 (UGA favored by 2.5)
RRS RECORD: Bowls: 6-6 (7-5 vs. spread); Season: 94-33 (52-55-1 vs. spread)