Kirby Smart, Georgia still haven't figured out Alabama and that needs to change

When you look at Georgia's numbers during the Kirby Smart era, they are astounding. A 97-16 overall record, 57-9 against the SEC, six SEC East championships, two SEC championships, two national championships, and a current run of 42 consecutive regular-season wins, and top five finishes in five of Kirby Smart's first eight seasons as head coach.

It's a glowing record of achievements and marks the rebirth of Georgia's football glory days. They have become the envy of nearly every program in the nation.

Nearly. And then...there's Alabama. Not just a monkey on Georgia's back, but a 500-pound gorilla with two feet on the Bulldogs' chest.

Smart and his Dawgs have a 1-5 record against Alabama, including three SEC Championship Game losses, and one crushing defeat in Georgia's first national championship game appearance since 1982.

The lone win -- the 2022 national championship game -- seemed to be the victory that would shake Georgia's bugaboo against the Tide, but since that exhilarating victory, Georgia lost again to Alabama in the 2023 SEC title game.

It's almost inexplicable. Even when Georgia clearly has the better team lined up against the Crimson Tide, things just seem to slip away and wind up with a group of disappointed Dawgs.

Is Alabama in Georgia's head for good?

You'd think with changes in players year-to-year, particularly starting quarterbacks, that you'd be able to see a different outcome. Not the case in this lopsided series. The more things change for Georgia, the more they stay the same for Alabama.

The list of starting quarterbacks who have been bested by an Alabama defense since 2008 reads like a Georgia QB All-Star ballot. Matthew Stafford, Aaron Murray, Greyson Lambert, Jake Fromm (twice), Stetson Bennett (twice), and Carson Beck all fell victim to this insidious curse. It was only on Bennett's third and final chance against Alabama that he came out on top.

You hear the whispers all the time (well, more like barbaric yawps from Alabama fans), "Alabama is living rent-free in Georgia's head". While that common meme may induce chuckles, it's also frighteningly true.

Every time a matchup with Alabama is on the horizon, people start talking about the pitiful won-loss record, about the failures, about the second-half collapses -- all of it buzzing around in the heads of the entire Bulldog Nation.

The players and coaches hear it (they can say they don't, but let's be honest), they read it, they think about it, and it creeps into how they prepare and how they play. It seems inevitable that somewhere, somehow on that field, something will happen to crush Georgia's spirit.

2024 is supposed to be the year Georgia moved past the Alabama mental block

All of that was going to change in 2024. Nick Saban was gone. The Crimson Tide lost a ton of talent to the transfer portal, and new head coach Kalen DeBoer would have to open the book on his SEC story against Georgia. It all seemed primed for the Dawgs to walk into Bryant-Denny Stadium and manhandle Alabama the way the Tide had done so many times to them.

And yet, here we are again. Less than a week from the game in Tuscaloosa and the whispers of Alabama being in Georgia's head are once again making an appearance.

Through three games in 2024, the 3-0 Crimson Tide seem to be getting better and better, while 3-0 Georgia seems to be still looking for an identity, particularly on offense. Injuries are starting to pile up for the Bulldogs, while Alabama's best injured players are back and healthy.

This is not how the season was supposed to unfold. Rather than a confident and well-oiled Georgia machine rolling into Tuscaloosa to flex against an unsure and rebuilding Alabama team, you have the Tide standing at home, chests puffed out, signaling for a bewildered Georgia squad to bring it on.

While Georgia's defense has yet to give up a touchdown in 2024, the offense seems to be running with all the efficiency and finesse of a busted chainsaw. Mike Bobo is already hearing it from fans, and the murmurs of "overrated" are becoming too prevalent.

How the hell did we get here?

Were Georgia's players dismissing Kentucky and thinking too much about how to beat Alabama? Have they been waiting for the other shoe to drop on September 28 since the season began? The reasons are unimportant. It's the outcome that needs to change.

It's time for Georgia to shake off the Nick Saban voodoo and play up to their potential. Winning in Tuscaloosa is never easy (Georgia is the first team to be favored there since 2007) but the Bulldogs have all they need to get it done.

To turn a phrase from the always-wise (but fictional) Crash Davis, it's time Georgia took the position of "don't think, just play". Georgia needs to hit that field and just cut loose. Play with reckless abandon. Play like Junkyard Dawgs. Play like they're the better team.

Because they are...and Alabama knows it.