Last season, Georgia looked like the most talented team behind Alabama when the Bulldogs took the Crimson Tide to overtime in the national championship game.

Marcus Spears believes that hasn’t changed this year.

During a meeting with reporters Friday in Atlanta, the site of Saturday’s SEC championship game, Spears said No. 4 Georgia has significantly closed the talent gap between itself and top-ranked Alabama. You can read his full comments below, courtesy of Rivals.com’s Bulldogs website.

“It’s the smallest gap that there is in the country, other than Clemson,” said Spears, a former player and SEC Network analyst. “That being said, the problem is are you afforded the opportunity to make mistakes and are the guys good enough to overcome them? Usually, when you play Alabama that’s not the case. But we all know Kirby (Smart) has recruited in that vein, and like last year, I thought across the board they were as talented as Alabama was.”

Oddsmakers seem to disagree with Spears’ assessment of the two teams, having set the Crimson Tide as a 13.5-point favorite in the conference title game. But Georgia (11-1, 7-1 SEC) can prove it belongs in the same conversation as Alabama (12-0, 8-0) when the teams clash at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday.