David Pollack knows how to measure off-the-field motivation in bowl games, but in a national championship matchup when the teams have played before is something a little more difficult to gauge.

Pollack, the ESPN analyst, shared his thoughts about how motivation will play a factor on Monday for Alabama and Georgia since things have shifted some from the December meeting in Atlanta. Georgia is the favorite again after Alabama won handily. Pollack shared his thoughts on WJOX out of Birmingham, Alabama with “McElroy and Cubelic In the morning.”

“We’re always trying to figure out motivation in bowl games,” Pollack said. “That’s something that’s always at the top of our list when we start making our picks and what we’re going to do, but I’m not going to complete discount the SEC Championship and say that Georgia wasn’t motivated. But I’ll say this, I think Alabama was backed in a corner, and they had one way out and that was to fight with everything they had. How many times does Nick Saban come to a podium and give you anything, and he said yummy rat poison. It mattered. It mattered that the naysayers, the doubters, those are guys that don’t get that very often so I think it was an advantage to Alabama.”

On one hand, Georgia will be motivated from the earlier loss, but then Alabama will also have something because Georgia is still a betting favorite in the game.

“I think Georgia’s going to hear about the SEC Championship and the matchup coming in,” Pollack said. “So I think it’s now about who’s the better team. I think the motivation to play for a championship should be great on both sides. Both sides should have a lot to play for. Both sides will be doubted in the media, because some will pick Alabama, some will pick Georgia. Georgia coming out the favorite, I’m sure Nick Saban was really excited about that because we beat the crap out of them, they’re still the favorite. I think the motivation aspect will be good across the board. Who’s the better team, we’re going to find out.