"Expert" Predictions for the Alabama-Georgia game

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Alabama at Georgia

When: Saturday, Oct. 3; 3:30 p.m. ET

Last meeting: AJ McCarron connected with Amari Cooper on a 45-yard touchdown pass with 3:15 left to give Alabama a 32-28 win over Georgia in the 2012 SEC title game.



What to watch for

Alabama (3-1, 0-1 SEC) shut out Louisiana-Monroe last week to move past its home loss to Ole Miss the week before. The Crimson Tide now play their first true road game, still facing questions about whether their long run of SEC superiority is over, something that seems to come up whenever Nick Saban's team loses for the first time each season.

Most of the focus has been on Alabama's offense, thanks to the lingering uncertainty at quarterback, but what plagued it against Ole Miss were defensive breakdowns and costly turnovers that included two fumbles on kickoffs. It was the fourth time in the Tide's last nine games that they'd given up at least 400 yards, something you wouldn't expect from a defense with such overwhelming talent.

Georgia (4-0, 2-0 SEC) has been one of the most impressive teams in the country to this point in 2015, winning by an average of 32 points and (so far) showing no signs of the team that would trip up when you least expected it. Nick Chubb has been as consistent as ever running the ball, while Virginia transfer Greyson Lambert set an FBS record for passing accuracy two weeks ago and has thrown two incomplete passes in the past two games.

Yet the Bulldogs are the team facing most of the pressure in this clash, as we'll get to see if they can actually come through in a big game or again fall short of expectations. This has been a scenario for years, even back in 2008, when Georgia had its infamous "blackout" loss to Alabama in Athens.

"If you flunked a math test and you go to the end of the next test and you keep thinking about what you did wrong on the old one, that's just not good," Georgia coach Mark Richt said in reference to dwelling on the last Alabama-Georgia regular-season meeting, via Stewart Mandel of Fox Sports.

And since timing is everything, now comes news that return specialist Isaiah McKenzie is named in a police report alleging "terroristic threats or acts," with four other Georgia players listed as witnesses, according to Taylor Denman of the Red and Black.

It's very rare that Alabama goes into a game as the underdog, and Saban is the kind of coach to use this as major motivation. But this is looking like a special season for Georgia, and if it can't win against a vulnerable Tide team at home, it never will.

Prediction: Georgia 30, Alabama 28

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No. 13 Alabama at No. 8 Georgia

In a rare scenario, the Tide is listed as an underdog. Alabama fell to Ole Miss two weeks ago and will have a similarly tough opponent this week in Athens. All eyes will be on the Heisman hopeful, Nick Chubb, and how Alabama will game plan against him. Chubb has rushed for over 100 yards in 12 straight games. Our simulation engine is picking the upset, predicting a narrow victory for Alabama. Nick Saban’s squad won 53.8 percent of simulations by an average score of 26.3-25.6.

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Colin Cowherd ?@ColinCowherd Can anyone honestly see Bama losing two SEC games this early? Bank it---tide rolls Bulldogs.

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Cowherd is the best in the business

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