Ad Disclosure
Paul Finebaum, Matt Barrie preview potential ‘game of the year’ between Alabama and Georgia
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Paul Finebaum and Matt Barrie gave their initial impressions of one of the premier games on the 2024 college football calendar: No. 2 Georgia vs. No. 4 Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
“This is really Kalen DeBoer’s opportunity to let everyone know that Alabama’s going to be just fine minus Nick Saban,” Barrie said. “Paul, this is really setting up to be the game of the year at this point, just based on the storylines coming in.”
One of those storylines involves Saban, who will be with the College GameDay crew ahead of the 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff, a game that will be DeBoer’s biggest test in his brief time at Alabama.
Meanwhile, Georgia — who barely avoided an upset at Kentucky before its bye week — look far from invincible, according to Finebaum.
“What we saw at Kentucky I don’t think was an aberration,” he said. “They’ve got serious injury problems. They lost (Tate) Ratledge, probably their best lineman offensively. That’s a big deal with Carson Beck having a shaky game against the Wildcats. They’re missing some key components on the defensive side.”
Finebaum added that while Kirby Smart was likely able to “get (Georgia’s) attention” after the Kentucky game, they didn’t need further motivation.
“That’s all nonsense anyway. They’ve had this game circled since December. You don’t need another edge,” he said. “This game is about Alabama, and there’s a chance Alabama is really scary good.”
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
