By: Robert Craft

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Happy New Year!

Well, maybe it’s not so happy for some unlucky college football fans. They have seen this movie before, and they don’t like it.

Alabama (13-1 and ranked No. 1) defeated Cincinnati, 27-6, and Georgia (13-1) downed Michigan, 34-11, in the College Football Playoff semifinal games in the Cotton and Orange bowls, respectively.

Thus, the two teams that had held the number one spots in college football polls all season earned spots in the CFP national championship game in Indianapolis on Jan. 10.

While there can be no doubt that these are the two best teams in college football this year, it likely wears on fans of other schools to know that the Southeastern Conference will have the national championship for the third consecutive season; and for the 12th time in the last 16 years. Alabama alone will be seeking their seventh title in the past 13 seasons.

Will this rematch be different? After all, Bryce Young carved Georgia for 421 yards and 3 TDs in the SEC championship game, and the Crimson Tide were the underdogs the first time around.

Alabama remains that psychological hurdle for Georgia, one that comes with seven straight victories in the series. That includes three SEC championship games and the 26-23 overtime thriller in the CFP championship game in Atlanta on Jan. 8, 2018.

Alabama won’t have star receiver John Metchie III, who suffered a torn ACL in the last matchup. Indianapolis is the most unnatural setting possible for both fan-bases, and keep in mind the Bulldogs led 10-0 in the SEC championship game before things went south. Georgia is favored by 2.5 points in the CFP championship.

The Bulldogs will play under much more pressure than the Crimson Tide. The Bulldogs’ coaches and players will say over and over, the SEC Championship game does not matter.

It does matter because it was the seventh straight win for the Tide over the Dawgs. The Crimson Tide will be stronger in the 2022 season and Kirby Smart cannot afford to lose an eighth straight game.

The talent levels are too comparable to expect another one-sided game. Unless the Tide injury situation warrants it, and no one can knows yet if it does, there is no reason to believe the outcome will change.

The Bulldogs showed enough in the semifinal where 190 rushing yards was overlooked. Bennett is fine. So is the defense. Georgia played like a team that learned from that loss and might just be ready to break the national championship curse that extends back to Herschel Walker in 1980.

But even though Saban is 25-1 against his former assistant coaches — including 4-0 against Smart, who spent 11 years with him in Tuscaloosa — history says a rematch for the national title is a great sign for the Bulldogs.

In the 2011 season, LSU beat Alabama in the regular season. Alabama won the rematch for the Bowl Championship Series national title.

In 1996, Florida State topped Florida in the regular season. The Gators rolled past the Seminoles for the national title in what was then called the Bowl Alliance.

Now, it’s Georgia with a shot at turning the tide.

That’s what happens when you press the reset button.

Georgia 34  Alabama 20.