If you’re like me, you’re probably not super excited about the national title game tonight.
The Playoff did accomplish its goal of matching up the two best teams, at least. The Massey composite shows that the four best teams made the semifinals in the first place, and the results of the initial round were not ambiguous. The two most talented teams by the 247 Team Talent Composite are in the game as well, so all is about right with the game.
We will see approximately the highest level of football that the 2021 season has to offer. If the SEC Championship Game loser makes some adjustments, it should be a tight contest.
However, I just can’t get excited about the idea of Alabama or Georgia winning it all. Bama has won it plenty in the last dozen years, and I always root for UGA to fail. Roll Tide, I guess, but the game is best taken as an intellectual exercise than an emotional one.
The best I can offer for it is this: it’s perhaps a vision for the future of Florida football.
If I heard it once, I heard it a hundred times from various places: those close to Billy Napier say that the two assistants who try to most closely copy Nick Saban’s Process are Kirby Smart and Napier. Saban’s dominance is self evident, and Smart has Georgia on the precipice of that level of greatness.
The good thing is that so far, Smart can’t get out of his own way. We’ll see if he ever does. Circumstances might even bail him out despite himself. Maybe the next Justin Fields he mismanages won’t leave. Maybe he’ll get an OC who can coach around his meddling and/or defense-first instincts. He can put together a scary-talented roster, and that alone can get you close.
I like that Napier is from the offensive side. The game of football is in a cycle where offense is winning, provided a good enough quarterback is on offer. It’s rare to find defensive coaches who are comfortable with having a truly dynamic, risk-taking offense. Bob Stoops was one. Saban wasn’t one until he decided to evolve into one. Smart, to date, is not one yet.
Napier doesn’t have that hill to climb. The jury is far from out on whether his defensive staff is going to get the job done at the highest level, though. I will have to trust him on Patrick Toney for now, but months ago when people were drawing up lists of Todd Grantham replacements for Dan Mullen, I never saw his name once.
At least, I don’t think I did; I read a lot of lists. I do remembering thinking, “huh, spelled just like Kadarius” when I saw Toney’s hire at UF, so I probably didn’t miss it in October. There are more experienced hands lined up for that side of the ball than just Toney, but it does appear that his is going to be the driving mind for the defense.
Anyway, Napier’s recruiting has already impressed with three top 100 signees in December, albeit with one being an existing commit he held onto and another being a prior member of the class before decommitting. When pressed for time, you have to do the best with what you’ve got available to you. Then last week he added RB Trevor Etienne, brother of Clemson legend Travis. There will be more signings by February, and some portal work has already begun as well with depth piece QB Jack Miller and promising OT Kamryn Waites from Louisiana. The roster building is already looking good.
One thing to watch out for tonight is just how little Alabama will be able to run the ball. The Tide couldn’t do it much a month ago and won’t today either. There were other teams that shut down their rushing like Florida, LSU, and Auburn. Sometimes racking up a ton of 5-stars won’t guarantee elite play in all facets. Tackle Evan Neal is a customary future high draft choice, but the rest of the line isn’t on Bama’s normal level. They could out-physical a G5 roster in Cincinnati, but they can’t do that to Georgia’s stellar front.
And that’s okay for the Tide, as far as it goes. They don’t have secret, cutting-edge game plans like Mullen had when he felt like putting in the effort. They recruit future NFL starting quarterbacks like Jalen Hurts, Tua Tagovailoa, Mac Jones, and Bryce Young. You can get away with a multitude of sins, none more than this year for Bama, when you’ve got one of those.
I point this out to say that UGA could easily beat Alabama with a more dynamic offensive attack. Smart doesn’t want one, so he doesn’t let Todd Monken call one or play J.T. Daniels over Stetson Bennett.
I don’t think Napier will have that same problem, so I think his ceiling potentially could be higher than Smart’s. It’s going to take years to find out whether he can fulfill that potential, but it’s there if the very early returns on recruiting and staff hires are any indication.
So that’s your saving grace for the title game. Yeah, it’s a bummer that it’s these two teams again and that the 1980 jokes might finally die. However, it could be a preview of what the Gators look like in three or four years. It won’t be an immediate turnaround; Saban himself lost to Louisiana-Monroe in his first year. But the future that Napier intends to bring about will look a lot like what you see tonight.