Kirk Herbstreit gives initial thought on a Georgia-Alabama matchup

An Alabama vs. Georgia SEC title game is looking likely once again this year. So now, the question is if the Crimson Tide can be the team to finally beat the Bulldogs.

ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit isn’t convinced Alabama can pull it off.

“I don’t know if [Alabama] can climb the mountain and beat Georgia,” Herbstreit told Paul Finebaum. “Everything that makes a great team elite, Georgia has that.”

Alabama ranks 14th in the nation in total offense with 473.3 yards per game and its 43 points per game rank fourth in the country. The Crimson Tide run a high-powered offense, which is why they’re so dominant.

But they haven’t faced a defense of Georgia’s caliber. The Bulldogs’ defense is among the best in the country, holding teams to just 6.6 points per game — the lowest in the country. They’ve also kept teams to just 230.2 yards per contest, second only to Wisconsin, which allows 213.8 yards per game.

Georgia has already locked up a spot in the SEC championship game and Alabama is closing in on another appearance. If the Crimson Tide can pull it off, it’ll be the fourth time in five years the two teams will face off for the conference title. Alabama won the last two in 2018 and 2020, but Georgia won in 2017.

Paul Finebaum: Alabama is not ready to play Georgia

Finebaum expressed a similar sentiment to Herbstreit, basically saying Alabama can’t handle Georgia despite being the No. 2 team in the latest CFP rankings.

“Right now, it wouldn’t look very good,” Finebaum said on SportsCenter earlier this week. “I’m not sure you could get Nick Saban to say that Alabama could beat Georgia four weeks from now.

“But that is a long way off. And what I mean by that is the offensive line has to get better. The starting center was knocked out of the game yesterday. And as a result, Alabama simply couldn’t do anything on the offensive line. The special teams were shaky. They have one of the best kickers in the country, he missed a field goal and an extra point for the first time in years. And that has to be corrected. They have an easy game next week, and then Arkansas and then the Iron Bowl before Georgia shows up on the schedule.”

The Crimson Tide didn’t do much to help their cause last week. Despite being 29-point favorites, Alabama didn’t score in the first or fourth quarter of its 20-14 win over LSU. With three games left before the conference championship, there’s still time to change people’s minds about beating Georgia.

But time’s running out.