With the 12-team playoff in store for this year the loser of this game won't have to sweat like years past, they're both going to get in. But this gives the winner a lot of confidence and so far over the years it's been Alabama winning eight of the last nine meetings and I think that's big here seeing how Georgia won 13-12 last week at Kentucky. Meanwhile, Kalen DeBoer has led Alabama to blow out wins over all their opponents and their quarterback Jalen Milroe has thrown for eight touchdowns, no interceptions, and hitting 70%. Between his maturity and DeBoer’s leadership, he's excelled and better than last year. I think Alabama wins again.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart is just 1-5 against Alabama, and the Crimson Tide remained a crutch for the Bulldogs last year by knocking them out of the playoffs with a win in the SEC title game. But all of those losses came against Smart’s mentor, Nick Saban, who has retired and been succeeded by former Washington coach Kalen DeBoer. Moreover, the Bulldogs’ stock appears down a little after they struggled to get past persistently stubborn Kentucky two weeks ago. However, if the Georgia team that showed up in a Week 1 blowout of Clemson reappears, there should be little doubt that this is the best team in the country.

I know Georgia has had bad games before, but something about that Kentucky game felt different. Plus, the Dawgs are banged up on the lines of scrimmage, so it's tough to take them as a road favorite against the Tide.

It's possible that the Georgia Bulldogs were looking ahead to this game after narrowly defeating Kentucky last week. Kalen DeBoer and his team should be fired up to snap Georgia's 42-game regular-season winning streak. The Crimson Tide has a much superior third-down offense and third-down defense. The Bulldogs have a -38.5 against-the-spread margin in their last two road games. DeBoer has gone 7-2 SU and 8-1 ATS as an underdog in his career. Hard to ignore. I have this game power-rated with Alabama at -1.7, so getting 2.5 points seems like the sharp side.

Over its past 51 games, Georgia is 1-2 vs. Alabama and 48-0 vs. everyone else. But they have six straight wins against AP top-5 opponents and 16 straight road wins. Nick Saban owned Kirby Smart, as his Crimson Tide won 8 of the last 9 vs. Georgia. Kirby is now the best active coach in the sport and Kalen DeBoer is no Saban. The Bulldogs will give up a touchdown for the first time in five games but they'll win by more than a touchdown nonetheless. Georgia 24, Alabama 16.

This line is a product of recency bias. Alabama is coming off a rout of Wisconsin, while Georgia barely got by Kentucky. I'm not putting too much stock in those results. Wisconsin is a bad football team who lost its starting QB early in that game and UGA clearly didn't play its best at Kentucky. Both teams had a week to prepare and I'm expecting a much different Bulldogs team on Saturday. Alabama is 9-1 SU in its last 10 games vs. Georgia but that was with Nick Saban. UGA has won 28 straight SEC games and 16 in a row on the road. I think this line is a little low, so I took the ML at -125.