Not today, Satan… er, Saban.

The most cathartic Georgia win of my life, bar none.

Your national championship game day post

First of all, savor the moment a little.  Our Dawgs are playing for the national title for the second time in five seasons.  There are very few teams in the country who wouldn’t trade their last five seasons for that.

Naturally, Georgia faces one of those teams tonight.

My head and heart have wrestled to a draw about this game, so I will refrain from making any predictions about the outcome, other than to say it is a game these Georgia players and coaches can win.  While I won’t say it gives me hope — nah, ain’t goin’ there — I do think one underplayed factor leading up to the game is the health situation.  The Dawgs, particularly the receiving corps, should be the healthiest overall they’ve been all season, while ‘Bama has to work without Metchie (and don’t try to tell me he’s a mere replaceable cog in the Tide’s wheel), Jobe and possibly a banged up offensive line.

Then again, they’re the only other team in the country with depth that matches Georgia’s, so maybe it’s not as underplayed as I think it might be.

Anyway, this game has been hot take’d to death, to the point I’m tired of thinking about all the obvious bits presented as profound analysis.  You know them all as well as I do.

Let’s hope our guys come out focused and hungry.  If they do, I’m more than willing to let the chips fall where they may.

And with that, the comments section is at your disposal, peeps.

Your national championship drinking game

Andy Staples ($$) outlines a list of prop bets for the game, but I think they serve just as well for the header’s purpose.  They are:

• 1980, the last time Georgia won the national title game
• Second-and-26: Replays and mentions
• Nick Saban remains (nearly) unbeatable against his former assistants
• Nick Saban smiles … during the game
• Mentions of Stetson Bennett as Baker Mayfield
• Cutaway shots to J.T. Daniels
• Tagovailoa-for-Hurts in 2018 (and vice versa the next season)
• In-game shots of Uga X

Bottoms up!  (Add any additional suggestions that come to mind in the comments.)

Making changes

Good piece from Dayne Young about making adjustments to the defensive game plan here.  He’s got three main suggestions:

• Play dime personnel (six defensive backs) on 1st & 2nd down

• Pressure Bryce Young

• Think players as much as plays/scheme

With regard to the first, if you do that, you’d better hope your front six can control Alabama’s running game, especially now that Robinson is healthy.

As far as the second point goes the issue isn’t so much pressure as it is how to bring it.  And where:

Focus almost entirely on the right side of Alabama’s offensive line. The Tide’s left tackle Evan Neal, while not unbeatable, is one of the best players in the game and only allowed one quarterback hit on 50 pass-block snaps in the SECCG. The right side of Alabama’s line is in doubt due to injury, but whoever plays is a significant drop-off compared to Neal. Also, if you come heavy from the Tide’s right side and force Young to roll or scramble to his left, his play suffers to the tune of a 46.6 passing grade and less than 50 percent completion.

The third point is especially interesting.

Looking back at the SEC Championship, Julian Rochester, Warren Brinson, Tramel Walthour, Chaz Chambliss and Zion Logue played a combined 40 snaps. While that group provides valuable depth, their impact in bigger games has been minimal. In the SECCG, they combined for one quarterback pressure and one tackle in those 40 snaps.

Given that ‘Bama spent a good amount of time running tempo to keep Georgia from substituting, I’m surprised that bunch got as many snaps as they did.  Either Lanning needs to scheme more production from them, or they need to see the field less.

Musical palate cleanser, today’s city edition

A timely reader suggestion: