It’s Alabama vs. Georgia for the SEC football championship Saturday. Shocking, huh?
The teams have met in so many postseason matchups they practically have become permanent non-divisional opponents. Alabama will be playing in its seventh conference championship game in the past 10 years. For Georgia, it will be six times in seven years.
Another matchup for an SEC title was so predictable I almost got it right. I predicted Georgia and LSU to win their respective divisions. What was I thinking?
Answer: I was thinking Alabama had a quarterback problem.
Its problem turned into a plus, thanks to the play of Jalen Milroe, who will begin next season as a Heisman Trophy candidate. By the end of the regular season, the only question surrounding his game: Would he run over or past a defender? Watching him run through a secondary is akin to watching a Vince Young Texas rerun.
Next season, Georgia also is expecting to get another year out of its starting quarterback, Carson Beck, and you can count on it again having a handful of first-team All-SEC picks.
So, regardless of the increased competition Texas and Oklahoma will bring to the SEC next season, I won’t make the same mistake twice: Alabama vs. Georgia for the 2024 SEC championship.
That was easy. Now, on to less predictable ventures – like when will be the next SEC championship matchup that doesn’t include Alabama or Georgia.
SEC rookies Oklahoma and Texas aren’t the only possibilities. Maybe, LSU coach Brian Kelly can field a defense by next season. Lane Kiffin has Ole Miss winning at a high level. But can he take the Rebels one level higher?
You saw how good Tennessee could be in 2022 under coach Josh Heupel. Although the Vols dropped off this season, they still won eight regular-season games. And their formidable NIL collective should help keep them in the upper half of the conference.
Having a good coach helps. Heupel can provide that. But his resume doesn’t stack up with Nick Saban’s or Kirby Smart’s. Neither does anyone else’s in college football.
Tennessee is recruiting well under Heupel. But it’s not recruiting as well as Saban and Smart. No matter how much the game changes – and it has changed drastically with the NIL and transfer portal – they keep recruiting and winning at a high level.
Tennessee in an SEC championship game? Some UT fans might say “2025,” which will be Heupel’s fifth season and possibly quarterback Nico Iamaleava’s third season.
For that to happen, the Vols will need to improve their scouting and signing of transfers. Better results in the transfer portal could put them in the 12-team College Football Playoff next season.
But making the playoff will be easier than catching up to Georgia and Alabama.
Georgia 34, Alabama 27: The odds against the Bulldogs winning three consecutive national championships are steep. But they’re not as steep after an unbeaten regular season.
ADAMS:Another nationally ranked opponent, another blowout loss for Tennessee football
As much of an impact as Milroe has had lately, Beck leads a more well rounded offense. And the Bulldogs can match the Tide’s defense.
Record: 92-17 (.844), 56-37 (.602) against the spread.
John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 orjohn.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: twitter.com/johnadamskns.
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