Kirk Herbstreit: Todd Monken is seeing holes in Alabama defense

It’s officially a No. 1 Georgia vs. No. 2 Alabama SEC Championship matchup. ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit weighed in on the showdown this week and gave the edge to the top-ranked Bulldogs — on offense.

Georgia is known for its defense this season, and rightfully so. The Bulldogs have the top scoring defense in the country, holding opponents to 7.5 points per game. But Herbstreit thinks Georgia’s offense doesn’t get enough credit, and people will see that against Alabama.

Considering the Crimson Tide gave up 35 points to Arkansas this week, Herbstreit thinks Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken is filling up his notebook — and Alabama has one key weakness he can exploit.

“Pre-snap movement is impacting this defense in a very negative way,” Herbstreit said on the ESPN College Football Podcast. “And you know Georgia and Todd Monken, he’s sitting there taking notes. … Alabama’s going to see it in Atlanta. It’s like final exam time. They’d better get that aspect figured out because Monken is taking notes from the Florida game all the way through, he’s seeing little holes that he’s going to try to take advantage of.

“Georgia … I feel like they’re better than people want to give them credit. All you want to hear about is the Georgia defense for obvious reasons. But that offense with [quarterback Stetson] Bennett and those backs and the receivers getting better and the tight ends that they have, they are much more capable than I think people realize, offensively.”

Kirk Herbstreit on the Alabama defense

Earlier in the show, Herbstreit talked about the struggles Alabama has had on defense this year. He added it’s turning games into shootouts, as evidenced by the Crimson Tide’s performance against Arkansas last week.

“To see [Alabama] consistently have weeks where they win games, but their defense lets them down, that’s why it’s hard to kind of be all-in on Alabama,” Herbstreit said. “They are not a team that wants to outscore people, but that’s where they are against better opponents. Who would’ve ever thought Arkansas was going to put 35 up? So that’s the most puzzling thing. This is a veteran defense, especially in the back end.

“You looked at that secondary and I remember saying in August, this will be one of Nick Saban’s best defenses that he’s had. Now, they’ve not really had, other than Will Anderson, they don’t have difference makers where they can just, ‘We’re Alabama. Don’t take this personally.’ Just dominate with defensive linemen. They don’t have that except for Will.”

Alabama is getting ready to close out the regular season against Auburn in the Iron Bowl on Saturday.