When asked to choose who between Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart and Alabama Crimson Tide sideline boss Nick Saban would he want to be the coach of his team, hypothetically speaking, Paul Finebaum of ESPN leaned towards the Georgia football mentor.

“For one year? Or are we talking about building a franchise?” Finebaum responded. “Because I think there’s a big distinction, and it’s not only age, because I think Nick Saban has overcome a great deal. I think his age is not a factor.”

“But I think Kirby Smart right now has a better handle on the sport, I just think Kirby Smart right now has a better operation,” Finebaum said during a recent appearance on the McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning (h/t Kaiden Smith of On3).

Under Kirby Smart, Georgia football has won two national championships in a row. In the last college football season, he steered the Bulldogs to a win in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, as Georgia football mercilessly crushed the TCU Horned Frogs. The Bulldogs also finished the season with an undefeated 15-0 record.

With the win of Georgia football over the Horned Frogs, the Bulldogs are now just a national championship away from tying Alabama's three titles since the start of the College Football Playoff era. It could also be remembered that Smart led the Bulldogs to a win in the 2022 edition of the CFP National Championship Game over Saban's Crimson Tide.

In any case, college football is in a better place when there's a coaching rivalry existing like that between two giants in Kirby Smart and Nick Saban.