Will Nick Saban pick up his sixth national championship Monday against Georgia?

Paul "Bear" Bryant

Alabama will play Georgia in the College Football Playoff Championship Game this coming Monday night. The game is set to start at 7 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN.

I suspect that more than a few of our readers will be glued to the TV set for that game, and if nothing happens, I plan to be among those numbers. As of Tuesday morning, Alabama was favored by less than a touchdown in the game, and it’ll be interesting to see if that number changes any over the course of the coming week.

Alabama got a little sweet revenge against Clemson on Monday night in the Sugar Bowl. I saw a number of Clemson fans eating lunch at Exit 96 on Tuesday, and they still looked down in the dumps. You may say it was the cold weather, but I think the beat-down they suffered in New Orleans had something to do with their long faces.

Earlier on Monday, Georgia edged out Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl in double overtime. That game was a very physical contest, and I think it took a lot out of Georgia. Will the physical toll of that game have an effect on the National Championship Game? Will the Bulldogs be able to recover in time for Monday night’s game against Alabama? Will the long trip to and from Pasadena have an impact on their performance?

Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure, Georgia will have its hands full against Alabama on Monday, especially if Alabama smooths out some of the wrinkles we’ve seen late in the season.

Personally, I’m hoping to see Alabama head coach Nick Saban win his sixth National Championship, which will bring him one national title closer to Paul “Bear” Bryant, who won seven national titles in his career. It will sound sacrilegious to some Alabama fans, but I think the only way that Saban can prove that he is the greatest college football coach of all time is for him to win more national titles than Bryant. In order to pass Bryant, Saban will have to win three more titles. Then and only then will Saban be able to say that he’s the greatest college coach of all time.

Whether Saban can do so remains to be seen, but his track record speaks for itself. In any event, for Alabama fans, it’ll be a lot of fun to watch if he, in fact, remains at Alabama long enough to will three more national titles.

I think it should be noted that Saban has a long way to go to top Bryant’s all-time coaching record. As of Tuesday, Saban was 217-62-1 as a college coach. Bryant was 323-85-17 as a head coach. Perhaps it’s significant that Saban has already won five titles with only 217 victories under his belt.

In the end, I like Alabama’s chances against Georgia. If Alabama plays to its full potential, doesn’t make a lot of mistakes or turnovers, they could potentially blow out Georgia as bad as Alabama beat Clemson.