Nick Saban created greatest College Football rivalry in past 20 years

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Merriam/Webster defines a “rival” as “a person or group that tries to defeat or be more successful than another person or group.” When we think of rivalries in college football, we think of “The Game” between Ohio State and Michigan, the Red River Rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma, Notre Dame/USC, and the Army/Navy game. But the defining rivalry of the last 20 years in college football is clearly Georgia/Alabama.

They are the true definition of rivals. It’s not a rivalry defined by tradition or hate, but by interconnected success and competitive greatness of both programs – these two teams have combined to win 8 of the last 16 National Championships.

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Georgia and Alabama have become college football’s defining rivalry

Every time they meet, it’s a dramatic clash of the titans that has CFP implications. Crazily enough, neither program would describe each other as their most hated rival – Alabama has the Iron Bowl with Auburn and the “3rd Saturday in October” against Tennessee, and Georgia has the “Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate” against Georgia Tech, and “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” with Florida. But when you look at the magnitude of the games being played, and the classics that it has given us, Georgia/Alabama is the defining rivalry of the last 20 years, even if it doesn’t have the hate or the tradition.

The relevance of the Georgia/Alabama rivalry is tied to one man: Nick Saban. Because ever since Nick Saban arrived in Tuscaloosa, the Crimson Tide have been one of the top programs in college football. After Georgia defeated Bama 26-23 in Saban’s first season as head coach, he seemingly made it a mission to dominate the Dawgs from that point forward.

One of the breakout games of Nick Saban’s Alabama was the September 27, 2008 meeting between the schools. Georgia was the AP Preseason #1 team, with Matthew Stafford, Knowshon Moreno, and AJ Green in tow, among others. Nick Saban’s Alabama announced to the world that they were going to be a problem on that night – as Georgia opted to wear special black jerseys and “blackout” the crowd, the Tide rolled to a 41-30 victory, and the game was not as close as that score would indicate.

The two teams would not meet again until the 2012 SEC Championship game. The stakes were massive – the winner would go on to play Notre Dame in the BCS National Championship Game, and the loser would play in a regular old bowl game (remember, this is before the era of the CFP).

After Georgia opened up a 21-10 lead, AJ McCarron and Amari Cooper led a thrilling second-half comeback that saw the Tide take a 32-28 lead. Aaron Murray drove the Bulldogs down the field and into scoring range in the closing seconds, but a pass completed to Chris Conley in bounds allowed the clock to expire and Alabama to emerge victorious.

Kirby Smart and Georgia finally break through

Ironically, Georgia’s resurgence in the rivalry is tied directly to Alabama. In 2016, Georgia hired Alabama Defensive Coordinator Kirby Smart to be their new Head Coach. Smart was a Georgia alum, and learned directly at the feet of Nick Saban. He had seen a juggernaut get built right in front of his eyes, and he was going to do it at his alma mater. Smart, very quickly, had the Dawgs at the doorstep of a Championship in 2017, when they matched up with (you guessed it) Alabama in the National Championship game.

Georgia took an early lead, but Saban’s benching of Jalen Hurts for Tua Tagovailoa ignited a second-half comeback, and “2nd and 26” to DeVonta Smith led to a walkoff win for Alabama in overtime. A year later, the two teams would meet in the SEC Championship game, with Georgia again taking an early lead. This time, it was Hurts who would play in relief of Tagovailoa, and Alabama won, 31-24.

It didn’t look like Georgia would ever get over the Alabama hurdle, as Alabama then won the 2021 SEC Championship game in dominant fashion to punch their ticket to the CFP. But the two teams would match up about a month later in Indianapolis for the National Championship game. A 4th-quarter TD strike by Stetson Bennett and a pick-6 by Kelee Ringo allowed Georgia to pull away and break through for their first National Championship in over 40 years.

Even after Nick Saban retired, the two teams have still produced fireworks every time they meet. In 2024, the first year of the Kalen DeBoer era, who could forget Georgia’s furious second-half comeback that was spoiled by Ryan Williams’ catch-and-run late in the 4th quarter? Just last season, Alabama clung to a 24-21 lead in Athens and stuffed Cash Jones on 4th-and-1 to secure the victory in the regular season. But the two teams met in Atlanta, yet again, for the SEC Championship game, and Georgia dominated, 28-7.

Every time that these two programs have met, it has produced memorable moments and Championship implications. Alabama owes their initial breakout onto the scene to Georgia, and Georgia owes their recent success to hiring an Alabama Defensive Coordinator. These two programs have been so successful, so intertwined, and so nationally relevant in the last 20 years, and that’s the perfect encapsulation of what happens every time they meet.

Maybe they don’t hate each other as much as some other schools, but Georgia/Alabama has been the truest form of a rivalry that the sport has seen in recent memory. They will meet this Saturday night again in Tuscaloosa, adding another chapter to this storied matchup.

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