We have all witnessed, no. 1 Alabama prove week after week why they are sitting so effortlessly at no. 1 in the polls. After beating Florida State 24-7 at one of the quoted “biggest openers in college football history”, the tide just has not stopped rolling. They are 6-0 after beating Florida State, Fresno State, Colorado State, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss and this weekend, Texas A&M.
In their last two games, Alabama has managed to score a combined total of 125-3 over Vandy and Ole Miss. They shut out the Commodores at home 59-0 and then brought the Rebels to Tuscaloosa to win 66-3. Even with the Aggies, not rolling over so easily, the Tide managed another successful home invasion winning in College Station 27-19. However, lurking in the shadows of Nick Saban and the Tide, is Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs.
Yes, the Kirby Smart who previously played at the University of Georgia, coached under Saban at LSU and the Miami Dolphins and oh yeah, served as the defensive coordinator at the University of Alabama up until 2015. It was on December 6, 2015 that Smart announced that he would lead the Bulldogs as the 26th head football coach at Georgia. In his first season at Georgia, the Bulldogs went 8-5 under Smart, but now it is a new year and the Bulldogs have a new undefeated record. Thus far, they have beaten App State, Notre Dame, Samford, MS State, Tennessee and this weekend, Vanderbilt.
Nick Chubb, who has been playing at Georgia since he was a true freshman, played back up to Todd Gurley, and is now the starting running back, has had quite a career with the Bulldogs. Many thought he would enter the 2017 NFL draft, but he decided to return for his senior season. And it’s a good thing he did, just this past weekend, against Vanderbilt, Chubb reached 4,042 rushing yards for his college career. Herschel Walker, had previously been the only other tailback to cross that 4,000 yard mark. He also passed multiple former SEC stars such as Emmitt Smith for No. 7 all-time in the SEC and many others in the SEC record books.
Chubb and the Bulldogs hope to keep pushing forward in hopes of winning the SEC East and squaring off with, what looks like, the Alabama Crimson Tide in the SEC championship. Will Kirby Smart be added to Saban’s record of beating his former assistants, alongside Mark Dantonio, Will Muschamp and Jimbo Fisher, who was added earlier to the list in the season?Or could Kirby Smart be the first Saban student to beat the teacher?
Alabama is to play Arkansas this weekend in Tuscaloosa and Georgia is to play Mizzou in Athens. Will both teams remain undefeated after this weekend?
