Has Georgia replaced Alabama as the top program in college football? | College Football Enquirer
Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel, and Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde and Ross Dellenger discuss the Georgia Bulldogs’ incredible dominance over the past two seasons, and debate if any program will threaten that dominance next season.
Video transcript
DAN WETZEL: I don't see Kirby Smart as a pro football coach. He's a college guy. And he doesn't look like he's getting tired of winning.
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So Georgia is now 29 and 1 the last two years, back-to-back National Titles. They will go off as a prohibitive favorite next year. They're absolutely loaded. And, like, 2 and 3, I mean, I would actually say Alabama should probably be 2. But people are [INAUDIBLE]. I've seen the way earlies, Ohio State 2. Like, that's without CJ Stroud, OK? Michigan, 3, OK. Like, [INAUDIBLE] you know, Florida State could be up there.
I mean, there's a few contenders, obviously, Bama, LSU. But you sit there and go, boy, this Georgia team? It's amazing, they went 40 years without winning a National Championship. And now, everybody's chasing them. And it didn't look like they're going anywhere. And, yeah, maybe Alabama's still got one more round in them. But Kirby Smart isn't 70 years old.
I mean, it is just like they were always behind Alabama, or Tennessee, or Florida. And you always sat there and said, how the hell are they not better? They're in this state that turns out all the players. They really don't have in-state competition with Georgia Tech. They have this great campus. They have this great stadium. They have the will to win. They could never quite get there.
Mark Rick did a great job of being really good, but they could never get there. 40 years, and now, it's like, get the hell out of the way. Who the hell's beating these guys?
PAT FORDE: Yeah. No, I had to write an essay before the game for SI commemorative issue, which you all should by, the way, when it comes out, on Georgia winning the Championship. And that was the primary point is, like, Kirby Smart is 47 years old--
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--and has now won two titles.
DAN WETZEL: He just looks 62.
- Yeah.
PAT FORDE: Right. He's got a little Mack Brown sort of, like-- he doesn't-- he's not necessarily gonna age with great grace.
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But-- but, like, the talent level, I mean everything, everything is set up for them to win forever now. They've got the best coach. They've got to sit on some of the best talent. They've got all the facilities, every infrastructure thing, every staff person you need. I mean, they are set up for the 2020s and beyond, frankly.
So, I mean, unless Kirby Smart loses interest or wants to try the NFL, look out, everybody.
ROSS DELLENGER: So, you know, Saban was there. He was on the sideline before the game. And then he was up at halftime. I think he did maybe talk a little bit at halftime on TV as a-- somewhat as an analyst. And I think there's a Tweet out there. It's just hysterical. It's from a Georgia Twitter account. But it's a photo of Saban. And you could see him looking down and his suit looking down over the railing from his perch way up on the stage of the stadium, looking down on the field. And the tweet is, "Romulus Augustus watching the fall of Rome--
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--476 AD.
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It's just-- it's amazing. I mean, it's truly incredible Tweet there. But you wonder, you wonder if-- if the guard is-- if the guard is a-changing. It sure feels that way, even though Alabama just signed their best class they've ever signed, the number one class in the nation. But it does feel that way. It does feel that Kirby is starting to really catch up.
PAT FORDE: I think it's over.
DAN WETZEL: Pat has said it's over. He's killed--
ROSS DELLENGER: Calling the dynasty is dead.
PAT FORDE: Yep.
DAN WETZEL: I don't believe that. I think they got a run in them. They are signing incredible recruiting class. But so in Georgia. Like, I just looked at the 24-- 2024, the current high school juniors.
- Yeah.
DAN WETZEL: There are already five top 100's committed to Georgia. Like--
PAT FORDE: Really?
DAN WETZEL: Like, that-- [SIGHS] that is a great Ohio State class, if you get-- like, or it's a rea-- like, USC will hope to get five top 100's. They already got five in the bag, now.
PAT FORDE: Yep.
DAN WETZEL: It's still, you know.
PAT FORDE: With nearly a year to go.
DAN WETZEL: Yeah, year to go. Like, they're just-- they're just loading up. And you see it. I mean, it's the great competition. You know, Kirby's after. He sounds like s-- you know, complacent. The only thing is entitlement. And he's already talking about how, actually, last year was easier to beat entitlement cause we had all these guys leave. So we had new guys. But now we got a lot of guys coming back. But he's just-- you know.
And, you know, his worry going into the game was he had worked them too hard, they might be tired. It's just a relentless, you know, pursuit. And I don't see Kirby Smart as a pro football coach. He's a college guy. And he doesn't look like he's getting tired of winning. And I don't see him slipping. I don't see any of it slipping. And, yeah, at that age, oh my God.
PAT FORDE: Look out.
DAN WETZEL: Yeah, look out. And, yeah, OK, Saban's there, but when-- how long's Saban gonna be there.
