The Georgia football program captured their second consecutive NCAA Championship last week. Georgia absolutely destroyed the TCU Horned Frogs 65-7 in the most lopsided title game in history. They smashed the previous mark set by the Nebraska Cornhuskers from 1996 when they beat the Florida Gators 62-24.
Interestingly enough, Nebraska actually split that national championship with Michigan, with each school ranked atop one poll each. But I digress.
The Georgia Bulldogs became the first school since the Alabama Crimson Tide in 2011 and 2012 to win back to back titles. That got us wondering, which school is the preeminent force in the sport now. I am here to say that we have seen a changing of the guard. It is Georgia and there are a number of reasons why.
So, let's dive into exactly why Georgia football has surpassed Alabama in CFP supremacy.
3. SEC East vs. SEC West
The first reason has less to do with what happens on the field, and more about what happens before the season starts. Everyone who knows anything about college football knows that the SEC is by far the preeminent conference in America. They consistently produce more NFL players. The conference has also captured 13 of the last 17 national championships. That's truly an astounding number.
Considering how good the conference is, there can be a major advantage had. Georgia plays in the SEC East division. Meanwhile, Alabama plays in the SEC West.
Even though there is some crossover, the majority of conference games are played between teams in their own division. The SEC East is comprised of Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and Vanderbilt. The SEC West has Alabama, LSU, Mississippi State, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Auburn and Texas A&M.
Until this past season, Georgia had a cake walk to the SEC title game lately. Yes, Tennessee popped its head up this year. But once Hendon Hooker goes pro, how long do we expect that to last? There is no other school in the East division that can compete. The days of the Florida Gators contending are long gone.
However, LSU is always a threat to Alabama. Even though Auburn has not been good the last handful of years, the Iron Bowl is always going to be difficult. Mississippi State and Arkansas each pose threats most years.
So, going forward, Georgia is in a far better position to consistently reach the conference title game.
2. Transfer Portal equalled the playing field
For nearly two decades, any five-star recruit wanted to be part of what was going on at Tuscaloosa. But once the NIL became a thing, which allows student athletes to transfer where the money takes them, there is now incentive to go elsewhere. No longer is Alabama a shoe-in to have the best recruiting class in the nation.
From 2011 through 2017, the Crimson Tide had the best recruiting class in America. Since that time, they have equalled that feat just once. All the while Georgia, has suddenly been top-3 the last six seasons.
Gone are the days when the Crimson Tide get their pick of the litter.
1. Georgia Football produces as much NFL talent
It is 100 percent undeniable that for over a decade, Alabama was the cream of the crop. They recruited the best players and they had the most players drafted into the NFL. But even that has been changing in recent years.
In 2022, Georgia led all of college football with five players drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft. The year prior, they had six players drafted in the first three rounds, behind only Alabama.
The gap between Alabama and the rest of college football has shrunk considerably. At the start of the 2022-2023 NFL season, there was only a six-player gap of guys in the league.
Georgia has put elite names into the NFL for a number of years now. Veterans Matthew Stafford, Justin Houston, AJ Green, Roquan Smith and Leonard Floyd were or still are elite players at their position. In recent years, Georgia has produced an even greater number of impact players at the next level.
RB's Nick Chubb and D'Andre Swift, C David Andrews, OLB Travon Walker, DT Jordan Davis and WR George Pickens are just a few to have entered the league in the last handful of years.
Basically, the landscape of college football has changed so drastically. The NIL deals and the emergence of the transfer portal have made it impossible for Alabama to consistently land all of the best players. Georgia has proven that they can recruit, lose elite talent to the NFL and not miss a beat. With UGA facing the easier path to supremacy and all else remaining equal, I don't see things changing anytime soon for Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs.
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