i haven't looked at a line, yet... i would guess bama is the heavy favorite.
i've said all season since watching Georgia dismantle MSU, that they have hands down the best backfield in the nation. Bama is right behind them. I've said UGA has the best starting defensive unit in the nation. Bama is right behind them.
the difference is bama has depth galore except at LB.
I don't think Bama's O is near as good as OU's- and i'd guess UGA's O is every bit as good as Clemson's.
UGA deserves to be there- their only loss they avenged. it will be wildly unpopular to say it here, in B10 country, but... AU, for that three week spell, could have beaten anyone in the nation. They were that tight with all components banging on all eight... they caught both UGA and Bama unaware, and UGA played their worst game of the season. Bama, however, were playing well (but shorthanded in the LB corps- no, i don't feel sorry for them in the least) when they lost to AU. UGA played well when they met AU the second time- as most SEC fans who'd payed attention all season realized- but caught an AU with a battered backfield...
proxy is just plain dumb. it's a rabbit hole. Using AU as a measure between bama and uga just doesn't work, especially due to health of AU and dumbassedness of UGA their first meeting.
to be clear, UGA played their second worst game of the season last night. they were, however, helped tremendously by the zebras. go back and watch- the holding OU was getting by with in the first half was astounding- and not in unimportant areas, but right there when the ball carrier breezed by... i can't believe it went without comment or notice- but watch it for yourselves.... i was about to post last night that 'the powers that be are ensuring a OU win'... there was one holding call against OU that i'm aware of that came late in the game. there should have been no less than a half dozen the first half alone. want to know what happened to UGA's D? There you have it. I ain't even going to argue about it because it was real and present, and anyone who isn't a homer should have seen it just as plainly. understand, i don't have a dog in the fight- bama, uga, ou, clemson- doesn't matter to me one way or the other- just calling it like i see it. uga was getting mugged last night up until the third- and then they figured out a way to deal with it.
OU hung 48 on UGA- that was totally unexpected and pretty startling... but Bama ain't OU offensively. UGA hung 54 on OU... but OU damn sure ain't bama defensively.
it's my opinion that UGA can hang at least 17 on bama, and bama should be able to hang 21 on UGA. it's basically a home game for the dawgs, but that shouldn't matter much as it isn't going to be played between the hedges and bama knows that field likely better than UGA- and will have just as many or maybe more fans to rock it.. i'd have to guess there to be a intangible score of around ten to contend with, and it's with great unfortune i'm thinking bama's experience in the big game is enough to steal every one of them from UGA... my brain tells me bama 31 to uga 17, but..... i just plain like the way UGA plays when they are comfortable, and i think they can keep it together... and i gotta call a UGA win... 24 to 17. furthermore, i figure uga will pull a MSU esqu punch early, and force bama to play from behind- either with a TB streak through the center (those LB's are no match for Michelle, Chub, or Swift) or by hitting isolated flag routes from the outside. they are good at that, and if a so called 50/50 pass is true, they ought to break off 25~30 a pop until bama moves the safety's up to assist, and then...... the TB streak up the center. i straight up haven't seen that streak play since early november, but it is something they run to perfection.
insofar as bama 'deserving' or not..... doesn't matter at this point. it is what it is. there are a LOT of writer's and networks that predicted bama since pre-season, and they're going to do what they're going to do to make themselves look smarter than they are. plus, there aren't a whole lot of teams out there who could beat them if the truth be told. the team with the greatest chance right now is UGA. the ONLY team with a chance is UGA.