Nick Saban ended his unmatched Alabama football tenure narrowly losing to eventual national champion Michigan in the College Football Playoff. His decline is what few modern coaches could even call their pinnacle. But was it all scripted?
Pro Bowl running back and former Georgia Bulldogs star James Cook believes the CFP Selection Committee saw the writing on the wall and wanted to end the Saban Era with a bang.
“If Georgia is in the playoffs this year, we win it all,” he said, via The Spun's Hunter Hodies. “And I think they didn't want to see us go {back-to-back-to-back}…But I just feel like they knew Nick Saban was going to retire, so they tried to sneak him in one.”
James Cook is skeptical about Alabama football earning CFP slot
Cook is suggesting that the CFP gave the seven-time national champion a legacy nomination a la the Academy Awards. Many believe Sylvester Stallone received that type of treatment in 2016 for his portrayal of the iconic Rocky Balboa in “Creed.” When a legend nears the end of their run, there is the temptation to shine the spotlight on them for what could be the final time.
Stallone is still going strong, but Saban did ultimately take off the headset for good after the Rose Bowl. That is one heck of a conspiracy theory, though. Cook's reasoning is heavily tied into the fact that Georgia football should have logically been considered one of the four best teams in the country.
Admittedly, it is hard to argue with the Buffalo Bills RB on that point. The Bulldogs won the last two titles and only lost to Bama this past season. He explains how Georgia endured the same situation in 2021 but was still granted entry in to the College Football Playoff. So why did things change this year?
Georgia found itself in unusual circumstances
The college football landscape was as chaotic has it as been since this format was instituted. Michigan and Washington both went undefeated and were thereby locks for the CFP (Florida State not so much). Then it gets tricky. The Crimson Tide dealt the Bulldogs their first loss in two years and consequently had a compelling case to present to the committee. They also lost at home to the one-loss Texas Longhorns earlier in the season.
Georgia got cancelled out and was forced to watch teams that may have actually been inferior compete for a title. But those are the breaks. Nick Saban put himself in position for one last ride because he led his program to a crucial SEC Championship victory versus James Cook's Dawgs.
Saban denied Kirby Smart a chance to three-peat, something not even he could accomplish with Alabama football . And then he retired. That has to leave an awfully bitter taste in the mouths of many Georgia fans and alumni.
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