Alabama football: 3 takeaways from the Tide’s 2023 SEC Championship win

3. Saban is still the king

For all the talk about the end of the Nick Saban era, he still wins a whole lot. That is especially the case against Kirby Smart and Georgia. You know, the program and coach that everyone claims is taking Saban’s throne.

Smart may win recruiting battles, but when these two go head-to-head, it’s pretty one-sided at this point. In 6 matchups between Saban and his former defensive coordinator, Alabama is now 5-1.

Smart has a worse record against Saban than Hugh Freeze, Gus Malzahn, Les Miles, and a few other SEC coaches since 2007.

At Georgia, Smart has built a program that looks a lot like Alabama. No one else has come this close to equating the way Alabama has done things. It makes their head-to-head record all the more impressive on the Saban side of things.

Saban doesn’t just recruit at a high level. He doesn’t just turn the SEC into mince meat regularly. He doesn’t just get to the College Football Playoff consistently.

He is also an elite in-game coach.

In a game where Georgia made mistake after mistake, Alabama was the more level team. They never committed the back-breaking error.

Kirby Smart’s program is impressive, but Saban is still the king of the hill. That may not change until he retires.