Has Alabama football vs. Georgia become a rivalry? What Nick Saban thinks
Alabama football has faced Georgia five times since Kirby Smart left the Crimson Tide to become coach of the Bulldogs.
The first four games, Smart couldn't figure out a way to beat his former boss in Nick Saban. Then Georgia broke through with a 33-18 win over Alabama in the national championship game during the 2021 season.
All but one of those matchups have been postseason games. There have been some classics; The 2017 season's national championship is of course the most iconic after Tua Tagovailoa hit DeVonta Smith for the game-winning touchdown in overtime, also known as second-and-26. But the 2021 SEC Championship Game was also a memorable one; Alabama was the rare underdog, facing undefeated Georgia. Then the Crimson Tide put together a convincing 41-24 win to earn a spot in the College Football Playoff. Georgia got the last laugh, however, winning the national championship a month later. All time, Alabama is 42-26-4 vs. the Bulldogs.
Alabama (11-1) has clear rivalries with the likes of Auburn, Tennessee and LSU, but has Georgia cemented a spot on that list?
Ahead of the 2023 SEC Championship Game on Saturday (3 p.m., CBS) against the Bulldogs (12-0), Saban was asked that question Monday.
"All these sort of you call them rivalry games, some of them are instilled in the culture like the Auburn game, the Iron Bowl," Saban said. "That's part of the culture. People have been watching that game for how many years? It's always going to be that. And then some of these other sort of rivalry games, as you call them, aren't traditional rivalries, but because there are two really good teams playing, and it's been historically that way for a while, they become those kind of games. That's kind of what this has become. You don't get an opportunity to play against a team that has won 29 straight games very often."
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The series could add an interesting chapter either way Saturday. If Georgia wins, it will mark only the second time during Smart's tenure and keep Alabama out of the College Football Playoff; no two-loss team has ever made it. If Alabama wins, it will snap Georgia's 29-game winning streak, an SEC record.
"I wouldn't say I've really looked into (the streak) that much," Alabama linebacker Deontae Lawson said. "It's definitely a feeling that, yeah we want to be the team to (break the streak). But we also know what comes with that, nothing else matters but what goes on, on the field."
Nick Kelly covers Alabama football and men's basketball for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama football vs. Georgia: Is it a rivalry? What Nick Saban thinks
