Taking the temperature of a couple of fan bases

Yahoo Sports has a good piece assessing the mind sets of Alabama and Georgia fans as their teams head into another SECCG clash.  The header puts it nicely: “Rival, threat or obstacle: What are Georgia and Alabama to each other?”

Truthfully, it doesn’t feel like a rivalry to me.  The hatred simply isn’t there.  And it sounds like the feeling is mutual.

“I don’t think most Alabama fans consider Georgia a rival,” says Josh Chatham, editor of the SB Nation Alabama site Roll ‘Bama Roll. “Georgia and Alabama share a mutual hatred of Auburn and Tennessee — it’s like, ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend.’ They’re a threat, not a rival.”

If Georgia is a perceived threat for ‘Bama fans, Alabama under Saban definitely qualifies as an obstacle for us Dawg fans.

“They’re viewed as the giant that Georgia can’t beat,” says Drew Hubbard, sports editor of the Red and Black, Georgia’s student newspaper. “It’s always been, ‘Georgia’s good, but they’re not Alabama good.’”

That’s certainly been the case in their last three postseason meetings.  Does Georgia’s 2021 success perhaps change the vibe going into the SECCG?  Probably not too much.

Give the Dawgs faithful credit, they’re achieving the balancing act of enjoying the ride while keeping expectations in check.

“‘Cautiously optimistic’ is probably the best way to put it,” Hubbard says. “These are the same people that watched 28-3 [the Falcons’ Super Bowl debacle] and second-and-26. They don’t know what it’s like to win a national championship. We won’t believe it until we see it happen.”

“This year, it’s been interesting,” says Allen. [Ed. note:  GTP reader!] “People see me out and about [in Birmingham] with a Georgia shirt on, or see the Georgia flag on my house, and say, ‘You’re going to kill us this year.’ I’m not ready to go there. I’ve been a fan for 40 years, I’ve been down this road before.”

It’s going out of the championship game that’ll mark both sides.  A ‘Bama win will just reinforce the good, but not good enough mantra as it applies to Georgia, while a Dawg victory… well, we’d have a different song to sing.

“A win would make it so much more fun,” Hubbard says. “It would fix the ‘little-brother’ attitude. Alabama has 18 national championships, Georgia is the laughingstock of the conference having all this talent but nothing to show for it. But [a win] would make this a much more level playing field.”

“If Georgia does [beat Alabama] and becomes the top dog in college football, they would have taken down Alabama, the defending SEC champion and national champion,” Woods says. “They could shut the door on the past and establish themselves. If they got a dominant win, that would bode well for Georgia for the future.”

Indeed.