Nick Saban explains why 'somebody has to prove they can beat Georgia' in new-look SEC
Since the start of the 2021 season, Georgia has a 42-2 record. During that run to two national championships, both losses came to Nick Saban and Alabama in the SEC Championship – the only blemishes on Kirby Smart’s resume in that time.
With Saban now on ESPN’s College GameDay and the SEC moving on from divisions, the league is taking on a new look. Georgia was a consensus pick to win the conference this season when the panel made their picks, and Saban now infamously picked the Bulldogs to play Texas in the title game.
The reason Saban is so bullish on the Bulldogs is he knows first-hand how things have gone the last three years. That’s why he has a big question for the rest of the SEC: Can anyone take down Georgia?
“I see six or seven teams that have a chance to win this. But somebody has to prove they can beat Georgia,” Saban said. “The only people who have beaten Georgia in the last two or three years is Alabama. So somebody’s got to prove they can beat Georgia.”
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Saban’s final win over Georgia came in last year’s SEC title game when Alabama got the 27-24 victory over the top-ranked Bulldogs. That took the Crimson Tide to the College Football Playoff and ultimately sent UGA to the Orange Bowl. It also turned out to be the last victory of Saban’s legendary career before he announced his retirement in January.
Nick Saban: Missouri has ‘easiest path’ to SEC title game
Nick Saban also discussed who has a path to the SEC Championship this year. Strength of schedule is important because of the amount of talent in the league, and he argued Missouri has perhaps the easiest road to the title game.
Georgia, however, might have the hardest on paper. But that’s where Saban said somebody needs to step up and prove it can take down the Bulldogs.
“I’m gonna say something about the SEC and the scheduling,” Saban said. “If you look at everybody’s schedule, Missouri has the easiest path to get in the championship game. Georgia has one of the toughest paths to get in the championship game. They’ve got to go to Ole Miss, they’ve got to go to Texas, they’ve got to go to Alabama.
“So it’s not all equal in the way these schedules are set up, as hard as people tried to make them that way, which is difficult with all the changes. That’s gonna have something to say about who gets in the championship game. And then, is it gonna be an advantage to get in the SEC championship game or a disadvantage? We talked about that before, too.”