Welcome to the Solid Verbal.
I'm that for me. I'm a man, I'm forty. I've heard so many players say, well, I want to be happy. You want to be happy for dake Edo State.
Is that? Whoo whoom? And Dan and Tye welcome back to the Solid Verbal. Boys and girls. My name is ty He'll the brand joining me over there.
In snowy in Windy in bomb Cycloney, New York City. Dan Rubinstein, sir, how are you are you surviving? I am in the eye of the snow clone. Tie, I am in the eye.
I worked from home today, which I as everybody that's ever listened to this show knows, I'm a little bit soft. Yeah, that's okay. I'm self aware enough to admit that I'm excited, though, Ty as, I'm sure you are. So it's I don't know, someone like twenty two degrees right now tomorrow as we record this Thursday evening, we are heading down to Sonny and I assume Nope, it is not warm. It is
thirty degrees right now in Atlanta. Let me ask you a very important logistic question, Dan, because as you know, we've got a lot of moving parts this weekend. We've got a big Facebook live stint going on pretty much all morning on Saturday morning. So go to Facebook dot com look up the solid Verbal. We'll be doing all sorts of videos there on the Alabama football page, on the Georgia Football page. We're going to be all over Saturday morning, So a lot of moving parts with that.
We've got more moving parts with our live show, our big event that we've got planned on Saturday evening. Yes, in the great city of Atlanta as well. So we're going to be very busy while we're down there, which means that we both need to get there on time. And now, given the fact that we've got the bomb cyclone going off here on the East coast, are you prepared to pull a Dennis Quaid strap on the snowshoes and walk from New York City to Philly to catch a flight to get down in Atlanta? Is that the
day after tomorrow? What movie is that?
That is the day after tomorrow? That's what he had to do.
That is the day. I will not be snowshoeing. I will be skyping in. If I can't get down there, I promise you I will be there in spirit and in some sort of digital form. No I will make it to Atlanta. I will make it to the live show. That would be ridiculous if I'm not there, and could not be more excited. And I see the sort of tickets ticking away. We've got about I don't know, eight or ten left. So if you're listening to this, hopefully you're listening to this before other people who might want
to attend are able to grab them. So we really are looking forward to seeing everybody in Atlanta, and we're going to have a bunch of fun. We've got a cool planned show looking back on the season, looking forward, we're going to have some friends with us on stage at a certain points. So I am bursting.
Tie, I'm very excited for everything. You're feeling better, right, I am feeling better. The voice is a little bit stronger, so got the cough, but it'll be away. It'll be gone by Saturday. Okay, I ask you a question, please, what are we doing on this here show today? Ty? As you know, we have made our hay over the last four to five months talking about as many teams and as many games in each of our shows as
we could possibly fit in. We had to cut games out, We had to cut teams out because we try to keep it around forty five minutes, and most of the time, at least this season ended up going about seventy five minutes. Indeed, we still couldn't fit everything in. This is one of those rare shows where we are talking exclusively about one football game. One football game, the College Football Playoff National Championship Game presented by AT and T on Monday, January
the eighth, at eight pm on ESPN. Got Alabama, Got Georgia. They will play. It's an all SEC affair for the National Championship. So we're going to devote our time here this evening to talking about one game. We threw ourselves into it. I'm excited that we didn't have a whole battery of other games we needed to dissect first. We can really just put all of our efforts here.
I'm ready for this tie and I'm I think is ESPN doing the Mega cast? I think they are. They did it during the semi finals, so it's an all encompassing experience. I have an idea. I don't know if you want to hear it now about one more channel, oh should be added? Well, let's save that for our content here. Let's save it for the content. I have a lot of thoughts about Alabama, Georgia, and I am I have gotten more excited than I was earlier on in the week.
Let's also say this, we understand that as college football goes, certainly they moved up National Signing Day this year or created a second National Signing Day season, I should say. And there's been news going on all around the college football ether that we're not going to have ample opportunity to address on this show. We understand though, that the National Championship Game is not going on into vacuum. There are other things happening. Rich Rod is out at Arizona unexpectedly.
We've got Dave A. Randa getting pretty much the sun, earth, win, and fire everything you could possibly want in a new contract to remain at LSU as defensive coordinator.
He's the new governor of Louisiana as per my understanding of his privileges. Yeah.
On the flip side, you've got Notre Dame refusing to go up and meet Mike Elko, therefore meaning he is leaving to take the same job over at Texas A and m would Jim both Fisher Yes, And then on top of all, of it. We've got players declaring for the NFL Draft in drobes.
You know, Josh Rosen and Sam Darnold declared. There have been a few of them throughout college football. Derwin James has declared early, Malik Jefferson I believe they have until like January nineteenth. There's some big names, ty, this should be a pretty loaded draft up top Vitavea from Washington, who I believe was the Pac twelve defensive Player of
the Year. Eddie Pinero the only good thing about Florida's offense this year for you know, the kicker obviously, Cameron Petway at Auburn and Carrie on Jon also carry On Johnson. Yeah that both of those the running backs for Auburn. So Sam Hubbard Ohio State had a huge game against USC and the Cotton Bowl. So yeah, we'll go through you know, draft eligibility. And Saquon Barclay's obviously the other just an enormous name signing with I think Jay Z's
yep Rock Nation. There was a picture of the two of them, so very cool. I hope all of these guys have long, healthy careers.
We promise at some point we will go into more detail with a lot of this stuff. But today, as we said, it's all about the National Championship and if you're looking forward to getting ready for that game with us here, if you want to dress up for the occasion, now might be the time to look into Indo Chino real quick.
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That seems pretty straightforward.
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Yeah, do you wear when when you have like a black tie optional wedding? Are you wearing a black suit? Are you wearing a darker suit? Or do you own or rent TuS? Usually situation I would run even if it's black tie optional, probably you know rented tucks. Yeah, I so. I camera Guy Dave's wedding real quick before we get into Alabama, Georgia. It was black tie optional. I wore a dark suit with a black tie. I felt totally fine, but afterwards I thought to myself, maybe it'd be nice to have a tux.
Yeah, maybe it'd be nice.
And of course I went to Endochino and they have some sharp, sharp tuxes tie. So I think I'm pulling that trigger. I think I'm ready.
All right, that's how you know you're a man. Dan. Let's get into it, all right, Dan, Daniel, there is one more pick left to be made. One on the table. It's just out there. It's glittering, gleaming, screaming to be picked. As I said earlier, the College Football Playoff National Championship Game presented by AT and T. They play it in Atlanta at Mercedes Benz Stadium, a stadium which honestly looks like it landed here from Mars.
Have you seen this thing? I have seen the stadium and the most appealing thing to me about it because it looks like a very very nice place to watch a football game. They apparently the food there is not only reasonably priced, like you get a sandwich for five bucks or something like that, but it's all local, known Atlanta institutions that are the vendors, which I think is pretty rad. So if you're going to the game, I'm happy for you. You should be eating well, good for you.
If the outer shell of this stadium that I'm looking at here on my computer. If the outer shell of it, instead of being the silver like it is, if it were a translucent shade of pink or red, it would bear striking resemblance to the thing that covered up the museum in Ghostbusters two. Oh.
I thought you were going somewhere else with that, because we've sort of alluded to it looking like a robot's b hole.
Oh no, no, no, not going there.
Because when you started saying if it were pink, I was like, Tie, mynd God, now you're broadcasting blue tonight. Now I love New Tie twenty eighteen. Tie coming at you, okay.
Monday, January eighth, eight pm on ESPN. A bunch of other streams which maybe we can look up before we bid fond to do here. It is Alabama at twelve and one overall, seven to one in the SEC. They are a three and a half point favorite over the SEC champion Georgia Bulldogs. They come into this game at thirteen and one and also seven and one in the SEC. Before we get into the actual conversation, here are some baseline numbers from Bill Connolly's SMP plus. I'm ready keep
this in mind, folks. The S and P plus is an efficiency metric. It's based a tool. It's a tool. It's based on per play data. It doesn't tell you everything, Like most of these things, it's a guide. Right. Here are the relevant factoids. Alabama overall SMP they are second, Ohio State was first, offensive SMP plus ranking twenty second, defensive first. Georgia overall third, offensive eleventh, defensive eleventh. The one striking difference between the two is that Georgia's got
a much better special teams unit. All that being said, the system per jectx Alabama to win by two point three points stan, so they're barely not covering, barely not covering. Okay, how do you feel about this game? So?
I am relatively confident that Georgia has a pretty good chance. I don't know is that quantifying qualifying enough? Sure? No? I think this game should be close because both of these teams are complete. Alabama looks to be a little bit deeper, which is to be expected given the years jump that they have in recruiting on Kirby Smart. But it's not like Mark Richt and his staff at a below average job. There's a ton of familiarity in this game.
I know a lot of people are going to look at the fact that Kirby was, you know, Nick Saban's longtime defensive coordinator, and sort of the push pull of the teacher and student kind of thing, which I think is not the most accurate way of looking at this. I just I really think it comes down to quarterbacks, and I think it comes down to how aggressive these offenses are because they have big challenges in these talented defenses.
So there is an element of to me, especially with Georgia, and I know we're going to sort of talk about all facets. How much do they view this as we need to throw everything we possibly can in every possible scenario, in every possible phase, but mostly offense and special teams because they should be most confident in their defense. How much are they willing to play like that from the opening kickoff? And if they are, I think they've got an excellent chance to put themselves in position to win
the game late. If they don't, I think we could get a very boring even if the score is relatively close, Even if it ends up like I don't know, twenty seven to seventeen or something like that. I think that throws a lot into doubt. If Georgia says we are just going to do and play how we always play, that is to me the big picture. That is the thought that I have had repeatedly when thinking about this matchup.
I want to get back to the thing you said about this being about quarterbacks in a moment.
Sure.
The other important note which needs to be mentioned these teams didn't play in the regular season. They are in the same conference, they do have some common opponents, and in this case they actually share the same loss. Both of them lost to Auburn. Alabama, as you know, lost to Auburn in the Iron Bowl twenty six to fourteen last week the regular season. Georgia lost forty to seventeen. Back in the second week of November. Had Georgia been a little bit more careful on special teams, you know,
it's probably a closer loss. But that's water under the bridge now forty to seventeen. They obviously bounce back and won over Auburn in the SEC Championship game, So perhaps some of what we saw Auburn do can be a little bit instructive on both sides, the Alabama side as well as the Georgia side. Let's get back to the quarterback point though, Why do you feel this comes down to quarterback play.
So downfield throwing. I like Jake from a little bit more than Jalen Hurts, which is sort of strange to say, because Jalen Hurts has aggressively been in this position before. This is his second year in a row, after a true freshman year, going to the National Championship and acquitting himself well in the National Championship game. He wasn't great
against Washington, but he made plays. He put Alabama in a position to win at the end of the game against clumbs and last year, and the defense just couldn't hold on against an excellent quarterback in Deshaun Watson. He has I mean, he did not throw the ball downfield all that well against an excellent Clemson defense. He struggled against Auburn. You saw the sort of drives coming to a halt in the red zone or green zone or
whatever the case when you were in opponent territory. That I just have questions because throughout the year, even close wins against a techs, A and M or Mississippi State, in close wins, it has been difficult at times for Jalen Hurts, when put into an obvious passing situation third and eight, third and eleven, third and six, whatever the case, where a defense does a good enough job spying him, keeping an extra man in the box so he can't just scramble for that seven and a half yards to
keep a drive going that when he has to take a snap, assess, go through a progression or two step into the throw and hit a nine yard out, hit an eleven yard pass up the scene, whatever the case is, that he has been a little bit hesitant and he's
just been a little bit off with his throws. So it concerns me if we're looking at this game in a vacuum, although all things told, if we're looking at this sort of holistically, Jalen Hurts has more at his disposal on both sides of the field to sort of make up for any deficiencies he might have in those situations. And also Alabama might not put him in those situations. Damien Harris might pick up seven yards of carry and he'll only have third and two's or whatever third and threes.
That's the worry for me about Jalen Hurts. It on the other side, is Jake fromm is the kind of quarterback that Alabama wants to face, or at least prefers to face.
Yeah, exactly, you're kind of getting into my point here.
Right, and I will I will let you take it from here, but sort of broad strokes, Jake from is not going to extend plays in the way that And it sort of annoys me that people when talking about, you know, well, Alabama's got a weakness. They struggle against excellent offenses with excellent mobile quarterbacks, like so does everybody, so does literally every tame in college football. So that
is that would be the concern. But yes, when you look at the teams that have succeeded against Alabama, it's quarterbacks. And this is this is sort of an echo of everything we've said for a long time. It's the sort of fearless quality that Johnny Manzel and Deshaun Watson and Chad Kelly and even in that game against Trevor Knight, that those types of quarterbacks have had with bigger receivers to challenge Alabama's physical cornerbacks and to throw the ball
downfield with little to no abandon right. And I'm not sure that that fully describes a very good, if not great quarterback, and Jake from I don't know if that describes his style and game well.
And that's my point, okay, because this whole thing in college for every college football game, comes down the schemes and matchups, in particular matchups, and that's where I get hung up. We made this point many moons ago. Let's take a look at the teams that Alabama has lost to over the last six years, including twenty seventeen. So we know about Auburn, we know about Deshan Watson and Clemson.
We had Ole missed two years in a row. We had Ohio State in the playoff, we had Auburn and the Kick six, we had Oklahoma in the Trevor Night Sugar Bowl Game, and then we had Johnny Manzel back in a Texas A and M game in twenty twelve. Yes, the common denominator and all those losses is what you said. It's a spread offense, it's a mobile quarterback. It's pro caliber wide receivers, either of the big and physical variety or slightly smaller and more versatile variety, but still very good.
And I would add tight ends to that as well.
Those are the kinds of teams that Alabama has long to. Those are the only teams that Alabama has lost to over the last six seasons. It does not mean they necessarily struggle against those teams. They've played other teams that fit that bill, but those are the kinds of teams that this Alabama squad under Nick Saban has lost to. That's the common denominator. What I get hung up on
is that Georgia is not one of those teams. And I don't feel like Georgia can contwart itself enough to become one of those teams in time for this game on Monday Night. In fact, Georgia is an awful lot like Alabama pre Jalen Hurts, pre Blake Simms, Alabama. Call it like the mccaren era.
Right.
You need to go back to twenty eleven against LSU to find a game that Bama lost to a power rushing team. So is all this to say that Georgia won't win the game. They can't know, of course, not Like you said, it's a razor thin margin. But despite Alabama's staff changes over the years, I still like the defensive continuity. Just with having Nick Saban as the coach, I have to pick Alabama here, and I don't want to put the car before the horse. We got a lot more to talk about. But I think it's a
low scoring game. I think it's defensive minded. I trust Jalen Hurts to make a big play when it counts. I think he's seen more action like this than a guy like Jake from who's been very good and has not shot himself in the foot at all this season. But I still trust a little bit more in Jalen Hurts and the overall depth that I think Alabama brings to.
Bear interestingly, so to flip it, just because we talked about the concerns with quarterbacks and Jake Fromm being you know, less experienced than Jalen Hurts, and Jalen Hurts struggling in certain situations. You have many interceptions Jalen Hurts through this year against teams with winning records.
It's either one or none.
It's zero. It is zero. And if there is anything sort of big picture that helps to define what winning quarterbacks do, they don't screw up. They do not give the defense anything. And I think Jake From through three he had like fourteen touchdowns to three and a.
Bad as a true freshman.
By the way, that's not bad at all. He led against winning FBS team, so this is not just winning SEC teams. Jake From led the SEC in efficiency ratings, whatever, yards per attempt, touchdown passes like he was. I think we can sort of get stuck in the like Jake From is underrated, jack From is very good. Jake From throws with a certain amount of confidence and even mechanics, like he steps into his throats, he throws with rhythm.
He is a quarterback way ahead of his age. He throws like a young junior, something like that where he has seen things when in fact he started because Starter got hurt and that started what against Notre Dame right in his first game, he goes South Bend against a very good defense, sorry about Mike Helco and looks totally poised and you know, is not the reason why they overall won that game, but he didn't lose that game for them. And what he did against not great but
pretty good Oklahoma defense. Then throughout the season Auburn's defense twice we've seen what Jake From looks like, struggling and helping to cost his team a big game. But aside from those moments. Jake fromm has been nothing but just ruthlessly efficient. And it's not screens, ty, it's not slants, it's play action downfield. The question now remains, if the run is taken away and Jake from does have to throw the ball thirty five times, I don't know how
many times he threw it against it. It might have been that many against Oklahoma. It appears now twenty nine times. He didn't crack thirty all year long. So if he has to throw thirty plus times, what does that look like for Georgia, That's to me a pretty significant question.
I'm I think I'm most interested in the offensive side of the football for both of these teams, primarily because both defenses are so darn good. There's just not a lot wiggle room. I'm so impressed with the Georgia story this year. Yeah, I mean everyone's heard about Rokwan Smith, and rightfully so, but especially that linebacking corps beyond him. Let's not forget about Big Lorenzo Carter, a long arm of the law at six six, or DeAndre Walker, who didn't have as many tackles, but he had just as
many sacks and more tackles for loss. They go pretty deep in terms of playmakers on defense and their front sevens outstanding. They're good against both the run and the pass, a top ten defense on both fronts, as is Alabama. But I just wonder how much can either team change what they do normally on offense to really throw a
curveball at these opposing defenses. With that in mind, I think Alabama is probably better equipped with Jalen Hurts, his mobility and some of the things that he can do to mold their offense to create a wrinkle that Georgia might not be able to do because they're much more of a power rushing oriented school.
Here's a sort of follow up to the thought that we had been talking about of you know, what have teams done successfully against this, you know, vaunted Alabama defense and something those teams have in common aside from the sort of stylistic play of quarterbacks. And I'm sure Alabama is thrilled not to play Baker Mayfield. Sure it's teams can't run against Alabama. Even teams that beat Alabama can't
run against Alabama. They have not given up i think five yards of carry even four yards of carry since and this is over a couple of years ago now, that Georgia game from twenty fifteen, which if you'll remember, it was something like thirty five to three, and I think it was Nick Chubb who ripped off like an eighty yard run. So that sort of skews it a little bit. So teams that do beat or hang with
Alabama typically have to do it in all phases. But there's something else that that sort of can be done that Georgia has not done, and teams that have hung with or beat in Alabama have done. And it's if you can't get offense going with any sort of rhythm or any sort of consistency, there is there is a very specific wrinkle. And those offenses played with a little bit of pace, they played with a little bit of tempo.
And even you know, Mississippi State this season, even Auburn this season, these weren't super fast teams, but they were top forty, top fifty in terms of plays per second or whatever, you know, whatever the tempo metric you want to use. Georgia is something like one hundred and tenth. Georgia is very deliberate with how they play. Hard to
fault them the results have you know, they speak to themselves. Yeah, but if they're not able to sort of get loose for six yards here, eight yards here, four yards here with Sony Michelle or Nick Chobb or Deandres whoever, I don't know if that's a gear they have to sort of wrinkle things up. But maybe they do. Maybe they do, Maybe they did it.
Look again, George has been an awesome story on so many fronts. Kirby Smart rewire this team in two seasons, catching everybody by surprise. Hell, the way he rewired this team after Jacob Eeson got hurt in Week one that caught a lot of people by surprise. The defense has been so good outside of the first half, and maybe the Rose Bull and a few bumps along the way.
As a whole.
The way this team played within itself and to its strengths all year is one impressed me the most because they knew every step of the way exactly who they were, and there's a lot of value in having a good,
strong identity. What I wonder now is they go into this game not just about the wrinkles and can they produce them to throw Alabama off its defensive game, but if they do try to stay within themselves and try to beat it right up the middle, try to pound Alabama up front, try to wear them down the way they've worn down so many other opponents. Is that something
they can do now? We know about some of Alabama's deficiencies at linebacker, but they've gotten some of those guys back, and you know how it is when guys go down with injury, other guys step in you sort of inadvertently build depth. Right. Sure, Alabama has been very strong against the run the entire way and really the entire tenure of Nick Saban. Is this a squad that's going to wear down over time if Georgia tries to come at them with Sony Michelle and Nick Chubb.
I mean they're down a linebacker Anthony Jennings, who who is you know? I think just went under the knife. He played really well against Clemson but hurt himself. So they are not thin. But you know, no Sean Dion Hamilton, you know, they're not where they'd like to be health wise at a couple of key positions up front.
Yeah, I mean, I just feel like they've they've been in this situation before. Yeah, you know, a power rushing team against Alabama is generally tough sledding, and I think that, above all else is part of why I feel so confident in going with Alabama.
Now, recent results against the more quote like power you know, under center just hat on hat offenses have been good, but not excellent, And certainly George is as talented, if not more talented, than some of the teams that have succeeded against Alabama. Now, Mississippi State does not run under center, but they go straight at teams, you know, between tackles whatever, with Nick Fitzgerald, Aris Williams both you know, finding success
at times against Alabama. And you know, a few years ago Arkansas, when they were more running power stuff than they were, more wide open stuff through the air, they had success against Alabama and LSU, and they got shut out last year, but it was still they allowed ten points, and only allowing ten points is certainly a huge, huge win. I think it's easy to argue that George's offense this year is ahead of where LSU's offense was last year,
So I don't think it's a prohibitive issue. I just think the margin for air is so slim, and it's going to be fun to see because even against Oklahoma, the holes that Sony Michelle and Nick chub are running through. Those aren't accidents. That's good scot sound scheming. That's misdirecting. They do a good job sort of dressing things up a bit. But man, Alabama's tough to fool.
They are.
Man, are they tough?
They are. Let's talk about the Alabama offense. Now, sure we focused a lot on what Georgia Canner can't do to confuse Alabama. But here's part of the reason why I think I trust a little bit more and Jalen Hurts in Alabama. Okay, now we know that they've got this multi headed monster upfront. I mean they've been very I guess generous in terms of who they've given the ball to. Just in a rushing attack. Right, Damian Harris Bo Garborough were the two main running backs who featured
in this running game. Jalen Hurts also had nearly as many carries as both of them, actually more than both Garborough, so they can come at you a couple different ways in that rushing game. They also have Calvin Ridley out wide, who overwhelmingly had the most targets on the roster, had five tires, almost six times as many catches as the
next closest guy. My question to you is knowing that if Georgia goes out and says, all right, we're gonna we're gonna take away Calvin Ridley kind of like they took away you know, the running game for Oklahoma last week. We're gonna take away Calvin Ridley.
Yeah, in the second half. We should add Ron Anderson ran crazy in the first half.
Correct, That is correct. We're gonna take away Calvin Ridley, and we are going to devote all of our other resources to stopping Damien Harris to stop being Bo Scarborough. That still leaves a guy unaccounted for and Jalen Hurts. Yeah, is that a winning stratt? What is the strategy if you're the Georgia defense here.
I assume that they're going to have to spy Jalen Hurts constantly and sort of play him laterally better than most teams can because they can't. Their linebacking corps is, arguably, when healthy and healthier than Alabama's right now, the best in the nation.
Absolutely.
So the thought is they are going to force him to play a more traditional take the ball, scan the field and make a throw. And so it's honestly, it's winning first and second down and forcing those. Third and six is third and sevens where Jalen Hurts has to think he has to take a beat and beyond. I mean, that's obviously easier said than done. He's got a very good offensive line in front of him. They can do stuff in the screen game to confuse and to sort
of keep George's defense off balance. But it's a basic question, and the execution is a little bit more complex. But yeah, it is force Alabama into as many passing downs as possible.
Well, we'll see, I think with all that being said, then the things that we are watching collectively with Alabama's offense, we're watching to see how they do on first and second downs. Yes, are they able to get the ball out to Calvin Ridley? What kind of success does Jalen Hurts have either as a passer or a runner or both. Where is he focusing more of his efforts? And then on the Georgia side, what kind of wrinkles, if any can they introduce? What kind of curveball can they throw
at a very good Alabama defense? Can they wear that Alabama defense down over the course of sixty minutes?
Another question I think worth asking as it relates to Jalen Hurts, is if he comes out and they go three and out three of the first four drives into the second quarter, do we see Tua. There were reports before the Clemson game, and I'm positive Alabama took this Clemson team very very seriously, that it would be a tight game. The whole way through. There were reports that
Toa was going to see time on the field. I don't believe he ended up seeing time, But if there are reports for Clemson, I would imagine it won't be all that different against Georgia that they anticipate having the need at some point to show a different look to the Georgia defense, which to I think offers a little bit more unpredictable. I would say, sure, And I wonder how quick you know, Brian Dable and Nick Saban are to say Jalen Hurts has not found a rhythm against
a tough defense. Let's see what the lefty does.
Well, I wonder, and that's assuming that he doesn't find the rhythm.
But sure, yeah, that is assuming, and that is you know, he came in games during the season at all sorts of random points. A lot of the times Alabama was already putting teams away, but he was still coming in in the second quarter or something like that. So on a stage this big, and obviously they trusted Jalen Hurts last year as a true freshman, So I don't think that can be a legitimate question if Nick Saban's willing to play a true freshman. But I guess a true
freshman backup is a little bit different. So, man, that would be something if middle of the second quarter Alabama's up three to nothing, if they're just like, well, let's see if we can throw something different at them.
It's interesting to watch, another interesting thing to watch, and sort of a minor hedge that I just want to get on the record here please, So my final score prediction is twenty one to seventeen Alabama. Okay, I think a low scoring game. I think under the total of forty five. I guess what's said thirty eight points. I'm
going with somewhere in the neighborhood. But in a game like this, where that margin is so razor thin and where defense really does carry the water on both sides of the game, it needs to be said how good Georgia is on special teams I.
Was going to go right there. Continue Exhibit A.
They blocked a kick last week in overtime against Oklahoma. They might not win that game if they don't block the kick. Who knows, right, But they blocked a big kick. Next play, they get a big run from Sony Michelle, they win the game. Exhibit B would be Rodrigo Blankenship and he's got the goofy mustache and maybe a fake name. I don't know, okay, but he hit all sixty one extra points this year. He kicked a fifty five yarder at the end of the first half last week against Oklahoma.
That's a weapon in a defensive game like this. If you've got range out to fifty five, that's a damn weapon. And then I'd say Exhibit CE is George's punter whose last name I'm not even gonna try. I can't say it, Nazilek Sure, I'm gonna take your word for it, Dan. He has pinned teams inside their own twenty Yeah, nearly forty percent of his punts. And that's not sexy, and that's not something you're gonna see in a lot of
scouting reports. But field position in a close, defensive minded game can sometimes mean everything you talk about how you doing on first and second downs. He's staying ahead of the chains. If you can't flip the field in a game like this, more often than not, you're gonna lose. Georgia has a lot going for it on that special team side of the equation that we at least need to make here if we want to be honest.
Yeah, I think Georgia has the nugget the wrinkle advantage. I think you know little thing. You know. They're incredible on third down. You know, against SEC teams, they were the best team in the conference converting third downs. I think there was something like forty or in the forties percent. They were nearly doing it once out of every two tries. So I think the point about special teams is correct, especially if we're looking at this game as having a
razor thin margin. Because of the familiarity, it'll be tough to really get one over on each other. And by the way, Georgia's punter is a grad transfer. Do you remember where he remember seeing where he transferred from?
No, I don't.
That'd be the Columbia Lions. In all the football's one true city city, New York. So Georgia relying on that that northern college football flavor really is going under noticed. Yeah, I think you're totally right. I give the advantage on the defensive line to Alabama. I give the advantage to linebackers barely because I think Russia Rashaan Evans is incredible. But to Georgia the secondary because of Mika Fitzpatrick, probably to Alabama. The offensive line to me is almost a
toss up. But you know, I really like both of these, you know, running backs. I probably slightly give to Georgia because I love the home run ability of Sony Michelle and DeAndre Swift. Receivers. I think probably goes to Alabama, but I don't love either. You know, Terry Godwin's great and Cam Ridley's great, but they neither one of these. And you know, Alabama has Jerry Judy, a five star freshmen. It's probably Alabama. But there isn't a lot of decisive
leans for me when you talk about position groups. But the special teams thing is big, and we're already forgetting that. JK. Scott is an incredible punter as well. Yep, And so it's uh, it's close, man. You have what twenty one seventeen.
I am gonna go my official prediction, I'm gonna go twenty one seventeen. Yeah, Alabama. I trust more in an Alabama's defense to stop Georgia's offense, and I do trust Jalen Hurst to make a big play even if everything else breaks down, whether it's him, whether it's Tua. I think the Alabama quarterback position is where they have enough room to add a wrinkle to make this game more confusing for the Georgia defense.
Yeah, I think I'm going to go with and it's actually quite tough for me to see Alabama putting up more than twenty to twenty four points just because of what we saw from this offense last week against Clemson. A'llbe a very different style defense they're playing against Georgia, and we've seen Georgia completely lay an egg, whereas I don't. We've seen sort of an egg from Alabama, but I think less so than Georgia did against Auburn. I have this as Alabama twenty four to fourteen.
Okay.
I think they're going to get a defensive or special teams touchdown, and I think it's going to be a frustrating day for Jake from I really I think they start out well. I think things are scripted well early on, but I think Alabama sort of solves that puzzle coming up into halftime, and twenty four to fourteen feels about right for me.
So we're going double Alabama here.
Double Alabama, and I guess you have them barely covering. I have them a little bit more comfortably covering. Yeah, it's so tough when Alabama feels like they're starting on second base with that defense, and I know George's defense is incredible, Alabama's defense is even a rung above that. And so I hope I'm wrong, and it's a much closer game and it's sort of a toss up at the end, goes to overtime, something crazy, I really do.
But when you start ahead like that, because of what you're able to do, just in terms of not having to play so many guys up with the box and to be able to disguise so many things, I think it's going to be difficult for Georgia to score more than a couple touchdowns.
Would a shootout be the most unlikely result of this game?
Yeah, if you know, a thirty eight to thirty five game would be dumbfounding. But again, I and I'm only going to speak for myself. I'm a dumb person, So you know, take it for what it's worth.
A lot of the games that you think are going to be defensive slug fests or on the flip side shootouts end up being quite the opposite. Yeah, so maybe maybe this game will surprise us. Nonetheless, two really good teams, two good stories. Alabama's been here before, They've been in the playoffs all four years. This is sort of Georgia's climb back into and.
They're ahead of schedule, way ahead of schedule.
This is their climb back up into the national relevance that they were so desperately seeking when they got rid of a very good coach and Mark Richt and decided to go Kirby Smart.
Yeah it is uh and I say ahead of schedule, but this was probably going to be the year because of how much they returned from last year. You look at the number of upperclassmen on defense, it's a bunch of juniors and seniors along that front, and even secondary is you know, there's a ton of experience there. Georgia has I think a little bit of an advantage with health which probably can't be overstated for most teams. For Alabama,
I feel like they're able to weather so much. Yeah, what Kirby Smart has done, and I always think the sort of x's and o's and scheme stuff. You know,
he inherited these players essentially. I think the and you alluded to this earlier, the idea of him getting everybody on the same page both in the off season, both starting with last season, and then once Jacob Eason goes down and they go to a backup quarterback going on the road to a good Notre Dame team, and it's just the sort of day in, day out stuff that a lot of former Nick Saban assistants have struggled with.
Whereas Kirby Smart, for whatever reason, if it's just his own makeup and constitution, if it's the fact that he spent so much time in Tuscaloosa and really waited for the right opportunity, the sort of day to day focus
of this team has been incredibly impressive. And that's how they end up in a place like this, to be able to win both a thirteen to ten style game and then to go to the Rose Bowl three thousand miles away against a high flying Oklahoma team and be able to win playing that not style, but in that fashion and is I think it speaks to the sort of and total cliche that like play to play aspect of this Georgia team.
All right, well, on that note, yes, one more time, I've got twenty one seventeen Alabama on Monday evening. I think they'll be crowned your college football national champion. Dan Rubinstein, my beloved co host, twenty four to fourteen Alabama.
We agree, we agree? Anything else about the game that intrigues you? I mean I mentioned the Mega cast, sure that I think they're doing. This is what I really want. This is my dream. I just want. And I don't know how many channels ESPN has at this point. They should probably just do this with the SEC network instead of showing like radio hosts. I just want a scroll of Alabama and Georgia message boards, like a live updating
feed of people just losing their minds. That to me reflects college football more than most things pretty accurately do.
There are a bunch of accessory feeds, complementary feeds that we'll be available through ESPN. Watch them all, flip around, sample every one of them. I believe our friend Adam A. Mean is going to be doing one.
I believe, so yeah.
Let us know which is your favorite and do call in the reverb and we got one more reverbs to do. Our boy Taylor is on board four eight. Verbal one is the phone number. Call in during the game, before the game, after the game, let us know what's on your mind, let us know what your thoughts are, and we'll do our best to work it into the final reverb segment of the year, just to sort of close it all out, tie it in a nice little bow.
Dan and I are going to record on Tuesday to cap the game, cap the season, and plod forward into the great offseason.
And we have so let's review what is also happening weekend. As you know, we released the show beforehand and shows. I think we'll have a bonus show. Is that correct is career in this game. We will have a bonus show with our pal Chris B. Brown of Chrispy Brown of smartfootball dot Com formerly grant Land. He's done stuff for Espionation and has written a couple of books. So look for that bonus show sort of deep diving scheme stuff and what these defenses are trying to do offensively.
How do you prepare for, you know, one week going against Oklahoma, the next week going against Alabama, and then we've got Facebook Live at Media Day. We're going to do a video Q and A from It's not Radio Row right, it's called Audio Avenue. Audio Avenue, yes, and so hopefully we'll be able to rope in some friends there. We've got the live show Saturday night, six pm to eight pm at Switchyards. Go to Soliverble dot com for tickets. There's only little it's a grip of tickets left, so
people have really grabbed these quickly. I like that. And then what Tuesday we will release a recap show. Yep, did I hit everything? Did I miss anything?
Yeah? The only other thing that I would add is on the Facebook front. Just going out to Facebook dot com first off, like the soliverbal Facebook page, and then just stay tuned all throughout the morning on Saturday. You'll be notified. I think that's the way it works. Facebook will notify you when we go live. But Facebook's been very kind Dan, They've got a whole set built up. They're going to bring players to you and I we're going to play games with them We're going to ask
them questions about the game itself. We're going to ask them questions about themselves as people, as individuals, human beings, try to get to know some of the players and coaches and staff members a little bit better, and we might bring some of our own friends on set to talk about other aspects of the game as well. So there's gonna be a lot going on all throughout the
day on Saturday. We would very much encourage anyone who listens to the show, who likes the show to go on out like our Facebook page and just come along for the ride with us. We're very much looking forward to it. I'm hoping my voice is a little bit stronger by then.
It held up.
Pretty well through the course of this show, so I think I'll be all right in two days time now. But really looking forward to getting out there and not only talking college football with our friends and players and coaches and all that, but also with you. It's always a good time.
I'm looking forward to it. And if listen, if you're familiar with Atlanta, hit us with some food recommendations. We're going to be hungry. We're going to be working a lot. We need calories.
Oh, and final point, Yeah, where are we going after the live show?
Oh?
We are going to let me I actually I'm a little bit bummed that the Falcons are playing because that really is screwing up our plans. But I think it's Park Bar in Atlanta. That's the plan right now. If it's swamped, we'll move somewhere else. But yeah, it's Park Bar in Atlanta. They have tots, it appears it's a huge bar. So we're going to go after then for drinks and continue hanging out with with for ballers. So
park Bar, I guess a little after eight. So if you're not able to make the live show because of anything, that's where we're going to be heading in downtown out.
That does it?
Boom.
We are off early tomorrow to the four oh four. Hope to see you all there. If we don't see you there, hope to see you all online. Please do keep in touch via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, email at soliverbal at gmail dot com and give us a text, give us a voice message at four to eight verbal one. That's four oh eight eight three seven two two five one.
That's the reverbal line for that guy over there, my good friend, my colleague, my co host so many years, Dan Rubinstein for myself over here temporarily in eastern Pennsylvania. We will catch you all in a few short days. In the meantime, enjoy the game and stay solid peace