Alabama
Kirby Smart built Georgia like Nick Saban’s Alabama. Now, the Tide is different
Nick Saban is all over Athens. Kirby Smart saw to that.
The man who won six national titles in Tuscaloosa can be found when you look at Georgia’s gleaming Payne Indoor Facility. He’s around when Bulldog freshmen don’t speak to media, and when the team takes the practice field in the afternoon despite the September heat.
The expectations are similar. The on-field product is similar.
The fear opponents feel when having to face the SEC’s ruling juggernauts is almost exactly the same.
“With Georgia and with Bama, 80% of the games those two teams play, the opponent is beat before the first kickoff,” former Crimson Tide quarterback and current ESPN analyst Greg McElroy said. “They really are. They look across the field and they see guys that are enormous. They look crazy athletic.”
Athens even has the familiar traffic barrels littering roads around town, much like Tuscaloosa. Those are a sign of construction, brought on, in part, by the growth from students coming to school for the football juggernaut.
“My 12-year-old son and his friend had a lemonade stand a few weeks ago,” Athens- Clarke County mayor Kelly Girtz told AL.com. “They probably did better than they would have done 15 years ago.”
Smart followed Saban’s blueprint to a T. He built Georgia to be as close an approximation to the Alabama dynasty as can be.
But when Smart returns to Tuscaloosa on Saturday, for only the second time since departing, the original won’t be one the other sideline to meet him.
‘Being around coach Saban’
Smart held off taking a head coaching job for years longer than he needed to. The opportunities were there for Alabama’s defensive coordinator, but he held out for the right situation.
“A lot of people have said, why not take a smaller school head job?” Smart said at his UGA introductory press conference in 2015. ” I honestly feel my growth was better being in a large program, being around Coach Saban and learning how to manage a lot of the tough situations you deal with.”
He started building like Saban immediately. Both figuratively, in talent acquisition and on-field scheme, and literally, forcing UGA to begin construction and modernize its facilities.
Jeremy Pruitt, then the Bulldog defensive coordinator, told media in 2014 that teams were using the program’s lack of a top indoor facility against it on the recruiting trail. The wheels began moving just before Smart took over, but he participated in the groundbreaking for the building in 2016.
That was just the beginning. Georgia renovated the west end of Sanford Stadium, building a new locker room, recruiting lounge, medical facilities and more.
Internally, he copied Saban as well. Smart has an army of support staffers, and the recruiting ability to fill a roster with five-stars.
Saban’s greatest trick was turning a dysfunctional program with endless potential into a dynasty. Smart has nearly done the same, winning two national titles so far, flipping a constant nearly-there UGA team into a perennial contender.
For several years, the two schools sat atop the league together, with Saban getting the last laugh in the 2023 SEC championship game. Smart was evidence that Saban’s dynasty blueprint could work if applied correctly.
Then, in January, Saban retired. Georgia was built in Alabama’s image, but the blueprint is gone now.
‘Don’t expect it to be strange’
Smart has only returned to Bryant-Denny Stadium once since he left. That was in 2020, Alabama’s last undefeated national title season, and it was in front of less than 20,000 fans due to pandemic restrictions.
This time around, his old boss, the man he worked under for 11 years won’t be on the other sideline.
“I don’t expect it to be strange,” Smart said Monday. “I mean, that’s just the normal course of progression. I think it’s strange going back there, sometimes because I lived there and our kids were born there and lived there for nine years and had such great experiences there. But we had that in COVID, it was more strange then.”
DeBoer got to town and made changes. Superstar freshman Ryan Williams has spoken to reporters, Alabama moved practice to the mornings, and music rings out over the fields.
Even the defense that Saban built is gone, in favor of Kane Wommack’s 4-2-5 “Swarm-D.”
Old Alabama is already gone. Georgia is its closest approximation in the modern game.
Smart even has learned to adapt like Saban, a trait that set his mentor apart from anyone else in the game.
“Georgia to me feels a lot like 2020 Bama,” McElroy said. “Not so much like the early versions of Bama. The early versions of Bama aren’t really that similar to what this Georgia team is. The early versions of Bama, frankly, it’s kind of similar to what Georgia was in Kirby’s very first couple years with Sony Michel and Nick Chubb and running the rock.”
If Saban wasn’t 72 years old, perhaps he’d have stuck around, figured out the modern era of college football, just like he did when he hired Lane Kiffin to modernize his offense on the way to two more national championships.
Instead, the throne is vacant. If Smart is going to ascend to the heights Saban reached, it should start now.
Though of course, Alabama might not be done yet.
‘They’re a different staff’
The Saban way has worked at both Alabama and Georgia. But it’s not the only way.
“I don’t know their game plan,” Smart said. “So I don’t know how similar it’ll be or different it’ll be. I mean, we’re a different team. They’re a different team. They’re a different staff. We’re a similar staff. So I can’t compare last year’s game to this year’s game.”
Alabama is different, but the roster is still exceptional, and DeBoer has a history of winning. He’s treated Saban’s legacy as something to be celebrated, but has changed the Crimson Tide to his liking, from the morning practices, to the rescheduled Walk of Champions, captain Cs on the uniforms and full-on embrace of NIL.
It’s worked so far. Alabama has a top-two recruiting class coming for the class of 2025, and sits at 3-0, fourth in the nation.
Saturday’s game will be a measuring stick for both programs, their first big test of 2024. Perhaps the Crimson Tide won’t fall into the abyss without Saban.
The UA faithful are hopeful at least.
“Ultimately, we’ll all find out together,” Tuscaloosa mayor Walt Maddox said. “But I think he’s made winning at Alabama something that’s been institutionalized.”
Alabama players certainly weren’t shaking over the prospect of facing the No. 1 Bulldogs.
“The cliche motto is, it’s all about us,” quarterback Jalen Milroe said Tuesday. “That’s so true, especially when it comes to improving as a football team.”
The microscope will be on Tuscaloosa for the 6:30 p.m. CT game Saturday. College Gameday will be there, as will a former president, and the battle between new and old Alabama gets a primetime slot on ABC.
For the Tide, it’s a chance to show it can still thrive without the man who built the machine. For Smart, an opportunity to show Georgia is college football’s preeminent power, even without Saban to emulate.
“It’s the reason kids wanna come to Georgia,” Sart said “They say, ‘I wanna play in games like that.’ Most viewed game two weeks ago Saturday night was our game. It’s gonna probably be that way this Saturday night. When you start looking at it, kids wanna have an opportunity to play in those type games. And we’re gonna have more of them after this.”
Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer reacts to Alabama’s Iron Bowl win
Kalen DeBoer said Alabama’s resilience and clutch plays made the difference in the Crimson Tide’s Iron Bowl victory.
AUBURN, AL – Kalen DeBoer made a gutsy call. Then Alabama’s coach made a funny.
Late in a tie game in the Iron Bowl, why did DeBoer go for 4th-and-2 instead of electing for a short go-ahead field goal?
DeBoer explained it with a bit of comedic relief.
“I figured it was 29 yards shorter than the last time we needed a touchdown here,” DeBoer deadpanned.
Good one!
DeBoer must know his Iron Bowl history. He was still coaching Washington when Jalen Milroe completed his 4th-and-a-prayer 31-yard strike to Isaiah Bond in 2023 to send Nick Saban out a victor in his final Iron Bowl.
Now, Ty Simpson joins this rivalry’s lore.
Alabama needed six feet to move the chains on fourth down. Simpson got six yards with his touchdown toss to Isaiah Horton with 3:50 remaining, good for the winning score in a 27-20 victory.
“The fact I get to say that I led a game-winning drive in the Iron Bowl, that’s something I’ll tell my kids’ kids,” Simpson said. “Just super incredible.”
Even if Alabama’s performance — the Tide were outgained by 131 yards — could best be described as something other than incredible.
Alabama probably on safe side of CFP bubble after Iron Bowl win
DeBoer described this victory the way most coaches would.
He called it gritty, not ugly. A show of resilience, not a cause for concern.
Sure beats losing, anyway.
“I couldn’t be more proud of these guys,” DeBoer said. “There’s some teams that hope they can find a way. I think our guys really understand that if they get in these spots, they can make it happen.”
A third loss would have kept No. 10 Alabama (10-2) out of the SEC Championship and out of the College Football Playoff for the second straight year.
This win probably keeps Alabama on the safe side of the bubble, for now anyway.
A triumph against Georgia next weekend in Atlanta would remove all doubt and clinch a playoff bid. Depending on where Alabama falls in the rankings this week, a competitive loss could do the trick, too, although the situation would become dicey if Brigham Young beats Texas Tech in the Big 12 Championship and turns that conference into a two-bid league, or if Alabama loses the SEC Championship by a lopsided score.
“We’ve got quality-strength wins and some wins on the road,” DeBoer said. “We’ve got more than a playoff-caliber football team.”
Kalen DeBoer joins coaches pitching his bubble team for CFP
The coaches of fellow bubble teams Miami, Vanderbilt and Texas all made their pitches, too. None of those teams is headed for a conference championship game, though. That won’t stop their lobbying.
“To do anything other than allow these guys to compete for it all would be just an injustice to the work they’ve done,” Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea said after a win against Tennessee pushed his Commodores to 10-2.
Texas’ Steve Sarkisian warmed up that language one day earlier, saying it would “be a disservice to our sport” if the committee rejected a 9-3 Longhorns team that beat Vanderbilt and also owns wins against Texas A&M (11-1) and Oklahoma (10-2), making Texas the only team with three top-15 triumphs.
Miami’s pitch is wrapped up in its head-to-head win against Notre Dame, a team with which it shares a 10-2 record.
“Head-to-head is always the No. 1 criteria regarding anything (in) athletics,” Miami’s Mario Cristobal said in his pitch.
I hate to be the one to tell Cristobal, but the No. 1 criterion is whatever the committee desires it to be to justify a particular choice.
“There’s not a question in my mind” that Alabama is a playoff team, DeBoer said.
He could say that with a straight face and conviction in his voice, because Simpson made good on DeBoer’s 4th-and-2 call, and then Alabama forced a fumble to seal the victory.
That prevented the need for any 4th-and-31 heroics on this night, and DeBoer got to try out his joke.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
The Iron Bowl is always one of the most anticipated dates on the sporting calendar, but this year’s iteration should be quite the spectacle.
Auburn is in the midst of a disappointing season, but the Tigers could end Alabama’s bid to make the College Football Playoff with the upset.
Those stakes should make for quite an atmosphere inside Jordan-Hare Stadium. There’s nothing that Auburn could use more than a win over Alabama right now.
Iron Bowl: Alabama vs. Auburn odds, prediction
Auburn’s record sits at 5-6, and the Tigers already fired head coach Hugh Freeze, but things aren’t as bad as they seem on the Plains.
The Tigers just couldn’t find a way to win close games in 2025. War Eagle went 0-5 in one-score games this season, and four of them (Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Vanderbilt) came against teams that spent most of the season inside the Top 25.
The problem for the Tigers has been consistent all season. They just can’t score.
Auburn’s defense is only conceding 20.4 points per game, against an elite schedule no less, but the offense is averaging just 23.9 points per contest. That’s one way to ensure you lose a lot of close games.
The Tigers won’t be the only impressive defensive team on the field on Saturday, however.
Alabama’s offense has received plenty of praise over the course of the season thanks to the emergence of quarterback Ty Simpson, but it’s the other side of the ball that has turned the Tide into a contender. According to SP+, Alabama boasts the sixth-best defense in the country, ten spots better than Auburn.
With two great defenses, one bad offense, and another under heaps of pressure in a must-win situation, this game could be a pressure-cooker. The Iron Bowl is a place to expect the unexpected, but this one sets up to be a rock fight, which puts value on the Under 48.5.
The Play: Under 48.5 (-110, FanDuel)
Why Trust New York Post Betting
Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.
There are few Cinderella stories remaining in the AHSAA 2025 high school football playoffs.
Class 5A Scottsboro is the only unranked team remaining in the race to get to Birmingham’s Protective Stadium next week. The Wildcats host Moody tonight.
Semifinal predictions
Mobile on deck for Super 7
Black Friday features 13 unbeaten teams and three rematches as the field narrows to the final 14 teams. Thompson and Opelika are already in the finals in Class 7A. Who joins them tonight in the other classes?
Check back frequently for highlights from across the state. At the end of the night, the complete scorelist and Super 7 pairings will be available.
Here we go. …
8:38 PM, Devils doing it: Maplesville pushes its lead over Leroy to 24-6 with 10:05 to play in the third period on a 3-yard Nehemiah McCray TD run. The Red Devils and Bears are both 13-0 in 1A this season. … Muscle Shoals’ kicker Jorge Garcia kicked a 45-yard field goal with 8:46 left in the third period to cut Clay-Chalkville’s lead to 22-13. … Jackson leads St. Michael 23-15 at the half.
8:31 PM, All for naught: Tucker Tomlinson jumped on a fumbled punt return to put St. Michael in business at Jackson’s 14-yard line, but the Aggies held when the Cardinals go for it on fourth-and-10. Jackson leads 23-15 with 2:21 left in the half. … Mars Hill leads Piedmont 35-16 at the half. … Bayside leads Southside-Selma 21-8 with 8:37 left in the half. … From Opelika-Auburn News, Lanett has forced 4 turnovers and allowed Reeltown 86 yards in the first half. Lanett is up 21-0. … Addison cuts Wadley’s lead to 14-8 in the third period.
8:14 PM, No. 1 narrows No. 2’s lead: St. Michael’s Noah Moss rambled in for a short TD and Gunner Rivers hit Braedyn Walton for a 2-point PAT to trim Jackson’s lead to 23-15 with 8 minutes left in the first half. … Saraland has lost 3 fumbles, but still leads Benjamin Russell 14-7 at the half.
8:05 PM, Saraland scramble: The second-ranked Class 6A Spartans lead No. 4 Benjamin Russell 14-7 on a 10-yard scramble by Jamison Roberts. The defense set up the score with an INT. … Clay-Chalkville goes in at halftime up 22-10 over Muscle Shoals thanks to a TD pass with 13 seconds remaining. … Coosa Christian is creeping up, now trailing Pisgah 22-20. … Maplesville leads Leroy 17-6 at the half. … Plainview’s Brody Hodges knots the score with Anniston at 14 on a 1-yard run with 3:08 left in the half at Rainsville. … Moody leads Scottsboro 21-10 with 3:28 left in the half as Aidden White hauls in a long TD pass.
7:55 PM, Frye and more Frye: Clay-Chalkville quarterback Aaron Frye puts the visitors up 15-10 over Muscle Shoals with 5:40 left in the half. Frye scored on a draw dead up the middle from 5 yards out for the TD and then walked in around left end for the 2-point conversion after a huge clear out block. … Pisgah leads Coosa Christian 22-13 and Lanett is up 14-0 over Reeltown. … Jackson leads St. Michael 23-7 with 52 seconds left in the first quarter. … Piedmont scores and makes a 2-point PAT, but trails Mars Hill Bible 35-16 with 2:27 left in the half. … Maplesville extends its lead over Leroy to 17-6 on a 9-yard run by Nehemiah McCray with 37 seconds left in the half.
7:47 PM, Back and forth in 1A: No. 2 Maplesville is back on top over No. 3 Leroy 10-6 after a 3-yard run by Jedaiah Works with 3:47 left before the half. … Moody leads Scottsboro 14-7 at the end of the first period. … Wadley has increased its lead over Addison to 14-0 in the second quarter. … Anniston leads Plainview 14-7 with 10:11 left in the half on Damon Pope’s 9-yard run.
7:42 PM, Stalemate, so far: No. 3 Vigor and No. 1 Williamson are tied at 14 with 10:59 left in the half in one 5A semifinal. Sammy Dunn hit Zy Wilson for a 38-yard TD pass and Dylan Jackson on an 18-yarder for the Wolves. Williamson’s Jamarcus Lett scored on a 1-yard run, Todrick Withers had a 3-yard scoring run and an Ellis McGaskin 2-point run tied it up. … Leroy leads Maplesville 6-4 with 6:09 left in the first half after a Jace Sellers 16-yard pass to Tanner Rivers.
7:33 PM, Trojans horse: Quarterback Kade Clemmons raced 43 yards around the left side to put Muscle Shoals up 10-7 over Clay-Chalkville with 1:43 left in the first period. … Anniston takes an 8-7 lead over Plainview on a 6-yard run by Jamorris Young and a 2-point conversion pass from Damon Pope to Kaleb Moore with 5:44 left in the first. … Wadley leads Addison 8-0 after one period. … Mars Hill is rolling over Piedmont at 21-0 in the first quarter.
7:28 PM, Points and more points: Landon Duckworth hit Red Chapman with a 48-yard touchdown pass and EJ Crowell ran for a 2-point conversion to give Jackson an 8-0 lead over St. Michael. … Moody’s Jake Lowery throws to Aubrey Walker for an 18-yard score to tie the game with Scottsboro at 7 with 6:54 left in the first quarter. … Noah Cain runs 4 yards for a Bayside Academy TD with 4:22 left in the first to put the Admirals up 13-0 over Southside-Selma. … Lanett leads Reeltown 7-0 and Pisgah is up 14-0 over Coosa Christian.
7:22 PM, Safety first. And second: Maplesville leads Leroy 4-0 at the end of the first quarter after a punt snap sailed out of the end zone and then the swarming Red Devils tackled a Leroy receiver in the end zone. … Colton Harding finds Conner Vaden for a 40-yard touchdown to put Scottsboro up 7-0 over Moody with 9:58 left in the first quarter. … Jorge Garcia booted a 25-yard field goal to narrow Clay-Chalkville’s lead over Muscle Shoals to 7-3 with 6:44 left in the first. The Cougars stiffened after Jashad Samples returned Clay-Chalkville’s kickoff after its TD 75 yards.
7:11 PM, Plainview, Clay-Chalkville on the board: Owen Hope races 55 yards to put 4A No. 5 Plainview up 7-0 over No. 4 Anniston in Rainsville. In Muscle Shoals, Clay-Chalkville took the opening kickoff and worked its way to the end zone with 8:50 left in the first period. Aaron Frye hit Josh Woods for an 8-yard TD on third-and-goal from the 8-yard line. It’s 7-0, Cougars over the Trojans.
6 PM, Moving on up: Auburn commit Jaquez Wilkes continues to move up in the Best in Bama, AL.com’s list of the top recruits in the state regardless of classification. Alabama commit EJ Crowell is still No. 1 entering tonight’s game at St. Michael. See who else made a move this week on AL.com.
5 PM, Breaking down the finals: 13 unbeaten teams, 3 rematches and 1 unranked Cinderella story. Get a breakdown of all 12 state semifinal games on AL.com before they start.
AHSAA SEMIFINALS
CLASS 6A
Benjamin Russell (12-1) at Saraland (12-0)
Clay-Chalkville (13-0) at Muscle Shoals (12-0)
CLASS 5A
Vigor (11-2) at Williamson (13-0)
Moody (11-2) at Scottsboro (9-4)
CLASS 4A
Jackson (11-2) at St. Michael (13-0)
Anniston (13-0) at Plainview (13-0)
CLASS 3A
Southside-Selma (13-0) at Bayside Academy (12-1)
Piedmont (13-0) at Mars Hill Bible (13-0)
CLASS 2A
Reeltown (10-3) at Lanett (11-2)
Coosa Christian (11-2) at Pisgah (11-2)
CLASS 1A
Leroy (13-0) at Maplesville (13-0)
Wadley (12-0) at Addison (12-1)
This post will be updated
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