CFP CHAMPIONSHIP: Second time around for Georgia-Bama might favor Dogs

Alabama throttled Georgia in the SEC Championship game back in December. The Bulldogs have a chance to return the favor next Monday in the CFP Championship game (UA Media Relations)

By GRAHAM DUNN

Second chances.

It happens in college football on occasion.

Florida and Florida State each got one in 1996 (97 Sugar Bowl)  after FSU won the regular-season finale.

The Gators came back and won the BCS matchup for the championship.

In 1994, Florida and FSU tied in the regular season and the Seminoles  came back and won the rematch in the Sugar Bowl.

It happened for Alabama in 2011. All remember the epic regular-season battle between the Crimson Tide and LSU that ended without either one scoring a touchdown and a  9-6 LSU victory in overtime.

The rematch came in the BCS Championship, in New Orleans, with Alabama shutting out the Tigers, 21-0, and earning the second title under Nic Saban following to his arrival in 2007.

Georgia has a similar situation next Monday when the Dogs meet the Tide in Indianapolis for the 2021 championship.

But no one is really playing that shtick, are they?

“I don't know that that experience (Bama/LSU) is going to have anything to do with this experience,” Saban said. “We've got a different team. They've got a different team. They've got a good team.

“Those two games were extremely hard-fought, close games in both circumstances. And I would expect the same in this game. I think both teams sort of realized where they are. The opportunity that they created for themselves and everybody's going to be really zeroed in on trying to do the best job they can to take advantage of it.

So I don't know that there's anything that I can really take from that experience that's going to have any effect or impact on this one.”

Kirby Smart was the defensive coordinator for Alabama in the double dip with LSU.

“When you're playing a rematch game, I think a lot can go into it in terms of you've got to be careful because you've got things and games in your breakdown that might change this game in terms of we didn't have the SEC Championship game, obviously, in our breakdown, then the playoff game,” Smart said. “And what tendencies changed, what matchups we're looking for, who is in, who is out.

“There's a lot of things that go into it. But at the end of the day, you're really not as worried about what they're doing; you're worried about what you're doing and how well you can do that is the most important part.”

History is on the side of the Bulldogs. In the last five times a rematch in a bowl game helped decide the champion, the loser of the regular season game won the followup.

Of the last 39 times a rematch has taken place from regular season to bowl game, the first-time loser has won 15 with two games ending in a tie.

The “rematch” talk apparently is being taken in stride by both teams. Although no one is avoiding the discussion, it has been placed in the category of “move on.”

“We have to focus on this game,” said Tide linebacker Will Anderson, Jr. “It's going to be a whole, totally new game, new area, new setting, everything. So we're going to see something different that we probably haven't seen before. We have to be prepared for it.

“And we're going to approach this game like we always approach every game – same mindset, same intensity, same energy. We're not going to try to do anything other than what we already do, just going to go out there and play Alabama football.”

“We’re going to prepare with what they’ve put on tape,” stated Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett. “We’re going to stick with their tendencies, just the same way I do every week, and be ready to adjust. … If there is a wrinkle come Monday night from either side, then whoever adjusts best will win the football game.”

Saban owns a distinctive record of winning rematches after a loss, having won five straight, but this will be the first time he has faced a team in the same season coming off a win while with Alabama.

The Crimson Tide is also an underdog to Georgia for the second time in the same season. The last time Alabama lost as an underdog – 2008 against Florida in the SEC Championship.

Since, then, the Tide has been the underdog three times, and have won all three games. December’s game also ended another streak with Alabama the favorite in 92 consecutive games.