Georgia and Alabama are preparing to lock up in the biggest regular-season game of the 2024 college football season thus far, and with the two teams being as evenly matched as you may ever see there's one Bulldog who needs to be the MVP of this game.
It's a team sport, and it takes a team effort to win a football game against another great team. Georgia and Alabama have set the standard in college football for the last decade, and it's almost never an easy win for either side when they meet.
What does usually happen when they meet is that one player takes it upon himself to lift his team and bring home the win. We've seen it with Tua Tagovailoa, Jalen Hurts, Stetson Bennett, and of course, Kelee Ringo.
Many times when you look to the player who can become that catalyst to propel an entire team to a win, you first look at the quarterback. While Carson Beck is certainly an important part of how Georgia plays, he's not the guy who's going to put the team on his shoulders against Alabama in Week 5.
Georgia's strength has been its defense in the early going this season. They are the only FBS team that has not allowed a touchdown all season, and they are playing with an unmatched ferocity when the game is on the line.
The Bulldogs will need another big effort on defense to beat Alabama, but in particular they'll need one player to step up and have an MVP game.
Malaki Starks needs to be that dude for the Dawgs.
Malaki Starks is regarded as one of the best defensive backs in the country and has proven before that he can come up big when the team needs him most.
At free safety, Starks will need to make sure the Georgia secondary doesn't get torched by the combination of Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe and freshman wide receiver sensation Ryan Williams,
Starks' job will be two-fold in this matchup. Keeping the ball out of the hands of Williams and the other wide receivers, and keeping Milroe in check if he should break out on a scramble or designed run.
It's all going to be about limiting those explosive plays -- that is to say, rushing plays of more than 10 yards or passing plays gaining more than 20 yards.
Through the first three games for each team, Alabama has 34 explosive plays -- 23 rushing and 11 passing -- while Georgia has only allowed 10 -- nine rushing and one passing. In total long scrimmage plays allowed of 10 yards or more, the Bulldogs rank 3rd nationally with just 22 allowed, per CFBstats.com.
Starks can be a big part of keeping those stats on-target, as well as creating key turnovers. If Malaki Starks can be the first one to pick-off a Jalen Milroe pass this season, it would bode well for the Georgia win.
If Malaki Starks shows up and shows out, the chances of Georgia coming out of Tuscaloosa with a win increase by a factor of...24.