Expect another game for the ages when the Alabama Crimson Tide tee it up Between the Hedges vs. the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday night. While Georgia has been the betting favorite throughout, Alabama has been eating away at the point spread all week long. This may have something to do with Alabama largely having Georgia's number over the last two decades. However, the tide is turning now.
During a recent episode of The Joel Klatt Show, the namesake podcast host made a point as to why Georgia is likely to beat the Crimson Tide. Again, Klatt is the lead college football analyst for FOX. He covers primarily Big Ten and Big 12 games. He went to Colorado, so he really does not have a dog in the fight. This leads us to believe that his analysis on this game coming in is without too much bias.
Let's dive into the crux of what Klatt had to say about Georgia and Alabama coming into Week 5.
Joel Klatt picks Georgia over Alabama for very understandable reasons
Klatt's first point was Georgia showed it can beat anyone, anywhere after stunning Tennessee.
"What (Georgia) showed me is that the SEC still goes through Georgia. And guess what? They don't lose at home. They've got the longest win streak in the country at home."
He then pivoted to questioning the coaching of Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer on the road.
"I know that Bama has been different since Florida State, but here's what worries me about Alabama. If you look at the the trend of how they've played on the road, even dating back to last year under Kalen DeBoer, it has not been good. And in fact, it's been downright bad. It's not that they've just lost games. It's been the fashion in which they have lost those games."
Klatt finished by saying that if Georgia gets the victory over Alabama, it will be the SEC team to beat.
"I think Georgia wins and they further cement themselves as the team everyone has to go through in the SEC."
Here is the episode where Klatt made all of his notable Week 5 picks, including Georgia over Alabama.
It should be noted that Klatt picked Georgia to win and cover the spread with a 38-31 victory here.
What Joel Klatt said is more of an indictment of Alabama than anything
Yes, Klatt did praise Georgia, but the bulk of his argument for picking the Dawgs over the Tide has everything to do with him not believing in DeBoer as a head coach away from Tuscaloosa. In Alabama's five last true road games, the Crimson Tide are a disastrous 1-4. These games all occurred since their previous meeting at home vs. Georgia last year, which they won in a totally wild shootout.
Since that barn-burner of a win over Georgia, Alabama has lost on the road to the likes of Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Oklahoma last year, before falling on the road in Week 1 to Florida State this year. It should be noted that Florida State suffered its first loss of the season on Friday night to Virginia in Charlottesville. In truth, Alabama's home victory over toothless Wisconsin is doing nothing at all.
Overall, Klatt is 100 percent right that if Georgia improves to 4-0 on the season and 2-0 in conference play with a home victory over Alabama, the Bulldogs become the undisputed team to beat in the SEC. Who else will have had a tougher two games to start league play than Georgia? Beating the Crimson Tide is easier said than done for Georgia, but this team has not lost at home since right before COVID.
It is not Alabama's inability to run the football, but rather how poorly DeBoer's team plays on the road.