re: Are we about to have a changing of the guard in the SEC?

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Are there any signs that Saban is losing control of this team?

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Bama fans, as usual, are missing the point. This is much more about Georgia building a program that can very well challenge Bama than it is about Bama's program falling apart. No one ever said that. I certainly didn't.

But look at the 247Sports Overall Team Talent by year, with the Top 4 SEC teams ranked by year:

2015 Overall Talent
1. Alabama- 981.90 (63 Four/Five Stars)
5. LSU- 889.37 (48 Four/Five Stars)
6. Georgia- 877.74 (41 Four/Five Stars)
7. Auburn- 865.41 (44 Four/Five Stars)

2016 Overall Talent
1. Alabama- 982.66 (61 Four/Five Stars)
3. LSU- 917.72 (54 Four/Five Stars)
6. Georgia- 872.00 (42 Four/Five Stars)
7. Auburn- 865.36 (44 Four/Five Stars)

2017 Overall Talent
1. Alabama- 999.57 (69 Four/Five Stars)
4. Georgia- 930.34 (54 Four/Five Stars)
6. LSU- 907.10 (52 Four/Five Stars)
8. Auburn- 854.15 (45 Four/Five Stars)

2018 Overall Talent
2. Alabama- 978.54 (63 Four/Five Stars)
3. Georgia- 963.87 (61 Four/Five Stars)
7. LSU- 890.95 (50 Four/Five Stars)
12. Florida- 835.84 (35 Four/Five Stars)

According to their data, the advantage of Four+Five Star kids on the roster has gone from +22... to +19... to +15... to now +2 compared to Georgia during the last four years.

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Ole Miss beat us two years in a row. It wasn't a changing of the guard.

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damn near 3 in a row, which is why I assumed this was a UT thread with Pruitt and Freeze rebalancing the SEC.

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My gut tells me Alabama wins on Saturday. But if Georgia does pull the upset, look for it to be the official changing of the guard that is well overdue.

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except Tua is coming back next year - SEC fricked

How does Ohio State recruiting compare over the last 6 or so years?

Alabama is currently on a historic run and shouldn't be the measuring stick. It's more likely you repeat OSU's current run than Alabama's.

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Except comparing it to the Bama/Florida "changing of the guard" literally implies that - unless you just weren't aware of the direction each program took in the subsequent years.

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Despite the revisionist history expressed by many today, there were virtually no signs of Florida's dynasty on the verge of collapse going into that SEC Championship Game in 2009.... if there had been, why would they have been a 5-point Vegas favorite as a 1-loss team playing an undefeated opponent?

Florida's recruiting class rankings back then:
2006: #2
2007: #1
2008: #5
2009: #7 (lost to Bama that year)
2010: #1

Yes, things in Gainesville were in such a collapse at the time yet they still managed to sign the #1 recruiting class just 2 months later. Sure that makes sense.

It wasn't until Urban's health scare (after the game) and his subsequent announcement to take time off that any cracks began to emerge.

Bama first started to challenge Florida's dynasty by bringing in talented recruits that could challenge Florida.... that started with signing Top 3 classes in 2008 and 2009.

The first step was bringing in similar talent. If Kirby was trying to recreate that first step of the Saban blueprint, he seems to be doing a good job at that.

The second step was Saban beating Florida on the field in a Championship setting. Georgia was close last year. They have another shot this year. But if Georgia ever wants to unseat Bama, that is obviously Step #2.

Will it happen Saturday? Who knows.

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 if there had been, why would they have been a 5-point Vegas favorite as a 1-loss team playing an undefeated opponent?

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Small correction but they were both undefeated.

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My gut tells me Alabama wins on Saturday. But if Georgia does pull the upset, look for it to be the official changing of the guard that is well overdue.

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You guys got blown out by LSU in a year we were expected to win 7 or 8 games tops. Georgia is a great program and is the clear power in the East for the time being but Bama is entrenched as the top dog and has shown NO signs of stepping back. Even if Georgia were to somehow win, it wouldn't inidcate anything outside of that single game. You're delusional to think otherwise and as a Bama hater I'd love to think otherwise.

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I'd be pretty shocked to see us go 8-5 in 2019, have half our team quit or arrested, Saban retire and then go 7-6.

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When did I ever state that was where Bama is headed? No one thinks that.

First of all, I expect Bama will likely win Saturday by a touchdown or more.

A "changing of the guard" does not mean the out-going king completely falls apart the very next season.

I don't see Bama losing more than 1-2 games per season anytime soon. When they do begin losing 2-3 games per season, its safe to say the dynasty is over. That's obviously not happening this year and its unlikely to happen next year.

But if Georgia can maintain 11-1 regular seasons as the new norm year-end and year-out, if and when Georgia defeats Alabama in a Championship setting, it becomes at the very least debatable as to who's on top at that point. That's the entire point.

So for the insecure Bama fans out there, no one said you were destined for 5 loss seasons going forward.