Alabama is an underdog to Georgia — again. Alabama can beat Georgia — again.

The stakes are even higher this time when the Crimson Tide play the Bulldogs with another title on the line. Georgia was a 6.5-point favorite when they met last month for the SEC Championship. Alabama cruised to a 41-24 victory.

Round 2 is Jan. 10. History be damned — Alabama is an underdog again. Georgia is a 2.5 favorite.

Obviously, the oddsmakers didn’t have their last game tabbed correctly. However, it’s hard to blame anyone in Las Vegas for missing the mark. The public certainly fell in line — and why not? Georgia fielded a historically great defense against the Crimson Tide, which had struggled for a good portion of the season.

Alabama’s inconsistent offensive line and injury concerns were at the forefront of everyone’s mind as they prepared for Georgia, which had only allowed 6.9-points per game and were undefeated heading into Atlanta. Georgia had only one close game all season, a 10-3 season-opening win against rival Clemson. Alabama had lost to Texas A&M and won 2 games they easily could have lost against LSU and Auburn.

Despite being one of the most dominant programs in the history of college football, we all agreed, Georgia should have been the favorite. The game just didn’t reflect what most thought would happen.

Things are a bit different this time. Georgia still looks dominant after a 34-11 thumping of Michigan in the Orange Bowl semifinal. To no one’s surprise, the Bulldogs’ defense was one of the major takeaways as they shut down the Wolverines. Alabama held up its end of the bargain with a convincing, routine 27-6 win over Cincinnati in the Cotton Bowl semifinal.

The most intriguing aspect about Alabama’s past 2 wins (Georgia, Cincy) is how different they were.

Bama quarterback Bryce Young was the focal point of the win against Georgia with Bama’s passing game and his ability to extend plays.

Young didn’t need to do that against Cincinnati. Bama simply ran the ball — and ran the ball some more — with running back Brian Robinson Jr. who helped control the game. It was a solid strategy. Cincinnati’s defensive front was smallish and no match for an Alabama offensive line that seemed to find their zone against Georgia.

The question for the college football world is whether Alabama can pull off the rare upset again. Keep in mind, those upsets are only rare because Alabama hadn’t been an underdog since 2015 until it was deemed as such against Georgia last month. Despite the point spread, it wouldn’t be an even mild surprise if Bama beat Georgia to win yet another national title.

There are a couple of reasons that the double-Dawg upset could happen. First, Bama coach Nick Saban is a well-chronicled master of motivation. One would have thought that Alabama was a 40-point underdog to Cincinnati based on how Alabama players spoke about how disrespected they felt. Guess where that mindset came from. I’m going with Saban, who had to salivate when he saw that his team was an underdog to Georgia, a team the Tide had just beaten handily less than a month ago. Saban doesn’t even have to try to come up with faux reasons why his team is being looked at as an underdog. They actually are an underdog. Saban will use that to his advantage.

After losing to coach Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M this season, Saban can no longer boast an undefeated record against his former assistants. Still, he seems to have the same mojo over Kirby Smart that he’s always had.

Saban wasn’t afraid to go pass-happy against Georgia. Forget the fact that it worked, it’s a sign that Saban knows his legacy is intact. He’s playing with house money. Smart is far less likely to push all his chips into the middle of the table even if he thought it might slightly improve his odds. That’s not a knock on Smart. He has a good team with a great defense. Standing pat is sometimes the best approach.

Saban and his coaching staff deserve more credit than they’re usually given. Sure, the Crimson Tide probably have the best roster in the nation — they replaced John Metchie III with 5-star Ja’Corey Brooks, the No. 2 receiver in the 2021 class.

However, Saban and his staff overcame new contributors and injuries to put themselves in position to win another national title. If history proves repetitive, Saban and his players will be hoisting another championship trophy — again.