Mark WiedmerGeorgia is going to beat Alabama in the Southeastern Conference football championship game Saturday in Atlanta.
I wouldn’t have written such bold, bordering-on-blasphemous words three weeks ago. But then Georgia followed up a 27-10 victory over Auburn with a 66-27 thumping of Massachusetts and a 45-21 beatdown of Georgia Tech this past Saturday, and, well, as Bulldogs running back D’Andre Swift said after the Tech game, “We’re starting to peak at the right time.”
Then there’s top-ranked Bama, 12-0 this season, with each of those wins won by at least 22 points. No team that overpowering should probably be considered anything but invincible, and the Crimson Tide have been viewed as that for most of the season. But the last two of those wins – 50-17 against The Citadel and 52-21 against Auburn – have revealed at least a few signs of vulnerability.
Or as Bama boss Nick Saban noted Sunday regarding those efforts, no doubt referencing the 10-10 halftime tie with The Citadel and the 17-14 halftime lead over Auburn: “I have not been pleased with the way we’ve played in the first half of the last two games on either side of the ball.”
Exactly what that will mean at 4 p.m. Saturday inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium is yet unknown. Maybe Saban will clean up whatever inconsistencies have crept into Bama’s attack, and the Tide will roll undefeated into the College Football Playoff.