Dr. Zachary F. Solomon is not just a cardiac surgeon, he’s also among the countless individuals who love SEC football. As a proud fan of the Georgia Bulldogs, Dr. Zachary F. Solomon could not be prouder of the run the Bulldogs have been on over the past two years. Since 2009, the Alabama Crimson Tide have been the precise class of the SEC. With six national championships under Coach Nick Saban, many supporters wondered if any other SEC team could compete with Alabama for the top spot before Coach Saban retired. Dr. Zachary F. Solomon believes Georgia Coach Kirby Smart has answered the question. With two straight years in the National Championship game, the Bulldogs are the clear top team in the nation, but have they surpassed Alabama for good?
Dr. Zachary F. Solomon sees many similarities between the repeat Alabama champions of 2011 and 2012, to this current iteration of Georgia football. It’s not just that Georgia is winning football games – 28 or their last 29 – but they are destroying teams. When Alabama was at the peak of its power, they were disliked by the entire nation because it felt inevitable that they were going to win every game it played. Georgia football is now reaching that status. Coach Kirby Smart was on the Alabama coaching staff in the early days of their dynasty and learned what it meant to be the best team in the country. The Bulldogs aren’t okay with just winning the game; they want to win big and strike fear in the hearts of would-be opponents. This is the Saban way, and now it is the Smart way. The most significant advantage to earning this reputation is that top recruits are going to seek out the opportunity to be a part of a program as elite as Georgia has been. In the arms race for top talent, Georgia has started to outperform their SEC rival. This has led to a practice environment that reporters claim is as intense as the games they play. Iron sharpens iron, which is what the Georgia program is about.
Georgia has yet to accomplish one thing that Alabama embraced: being the villain on the national radar. Alabama has no problem being the team the general public is rooting against every week. Dynasties are loved in this country because people love rooting for the underdog. When the dynasty finally loses, it means so much more. That’s why every superhero movie is only as good as the villain, making life difficult for the hero. Georgia will become the top villain in the sport the more they win. This will be an adjustment for the entire program. How they handle this type of adversity will determine whether or not they can hold onto their grip as college football’s top team or provide an opportunity for Alabama or an emerging threat like LSU to rise the ranks.
One thing is without question, according to Dr. Zachary Solomon, and that is Georgia is the clear top team in college football for the foreseeable future. Until someone knocks them off their pedestal, there’s no denying that they have surpassed Alabama and every other team in the nation. The next goal becomes surpassing what the Alabama dynasty of the 2010s accomplished. With Coach Smart at the helm and recruiting classes that continue to replenish talent at every position, Dr. Zachary F. Solomon likes their odds.
