We are just a couple of days away from the College Football National Championship and the latest episode of Inside the College Football Playoff is now streaming on ESPN+ to give fans a behind-the-scenes look at the big game. Conference rivals Alabama and Georgia prepare for a “SEC-QUEL.”
The episode opens with Alabama coach Nick Saban and Georgia coach Kirby Smart meeting on the field ahead of their SEC Championship game back in December. We then see a brief highlight package from the game, which resulted in a blowout win for Alabama.
As the episode focuses on Alabama, it looks back on the tenure of Saban, who has been one of them ost successful coaches in the history of the sport. Kirby Smart was a defensive backs coach and eventually a defensive coordinator under Nick Saban at Alabama, adding to the narrative of this championship game. Smart even won four National Championships with Alabama before leaving for Georgia prior to the 2016 season. We see a montage of practices for both teams where Saban and Smart show a lot of similarities.
These two coaches have met before in a National Title game back in 2018. Alabama also won that game in overtime to claim the championship. The leads to another look at Saban’s successes as a coach before jumping to another matchup between these two teams in the 2018 SEC Championship game. This game was won by, you guessed it, Alabama. Bama defeated Georgia again in the 2020 regular season.
We then get an extended look at this year’s SEC Championship game, the fourth matchup between Saban and Smart. It’s been a very one-sided rivalry and this episode struggles to stir up some drama for this championship matchup. Not that anything really needs to be added to a championship game. We all know how much is on the line.
The show then shifts focus to two Alabama players: wide receiver Jameson Williams and linebacker Henry To’oto’o. Both players transferred to Alabama, Williams from Ohio State and To’oto’o from Tennessee. The spotlight is put on both of these players has they both contributed in big ways to the victory over Georgia and they will be counted on toe come through again in this title game.
Multiple Alabama players are then asked about the key moment in this season for them and the answer is unanimous: their loss to Texas A&M. We see highlights from that game as they talk about that game reminding them how hard they have to work for their wins. We also see highlights from their game against Auburn, which went to four overtimes before Alabama pulled out the narrow victory. It’s a nice reminder that Alabama isn’t unbeatable, contrary to what everything prior in this episode would have you believe.
There appears to be a bit of a glitch with this episode as the end seems to be cut short. Still, it’s a very telling look at this rivalry and just how dominant Alabama has been in recent years. It does also try to flip the script a bit by reminding us that the Crimson Tide had some struggles this season however. Interestingly, the focus of this episode is almost all on Alabama, as Georgia is pushed to the side a bit. We’ll see if the Bulldogs can change that narrative on Monday night.
You can watch Inside the College Football Playoff on ESPN+ now.