Paul Finebaum, Greg McElroy discuss whether Kirby Smart seems 'a little tight' ahead of national title
Georgia has a chance to repeat as college football’s national title winner on Monday as the Bulldogs go up against the Horned Frogs in the College Football Playoff championship game.
Both TCU and Georgia recorded narrow victories in their semifinal games, with the Bulldogs topping the Ohio State Buckeyes 42-41, while TCU defeated the Michigan Wolverines, 51-45, making this upcoming matchup even more interesting than it already was on the sport’s biggest stage.
College football analysts Paul Finebaum and Greg McElroy recently discussed on WJOX’s “McElroy and Cubelic In the morning” whether or not Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart seemed a bit tensed up before the game. McElroy described TCU as a team “playing with house money” that may not have fully expected to be here whereas Georgia’s guard seems to be up from a glance, at least.
“I did (think he seemed a bit tight) and I think it’s understandable,” Finebaum said. “It’s one thing for the weight of the world to be on you, trying to win that first one against your mentor… that was a year ago. He’s now become the hunted… he has been down this road before as an assistant and he also knows that history is against him, just because it’s so hard to win back to back.”
Georgia and TCU are set to kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET in SoFi Stadium.
Winning back to back is crazy hard, just knowing that the other team has very little risk and you have all the pressure. TCU wins, it’s ecstasy for them, a championship out of nothing, 2010 Auburn. If they lose, NBD what a great run! UGA doesn’t have the luxury. Win, and it’s relief, lose and it’s agony to have come this far with the target on your back all year then come up short.
Repeat bids have typically been a bit tougher than this one, though. Oklahoma faced a phenomenal USC in 04, USC faced a great Texas in 05, Bama and Clemson were juggernauts 15-18. Bama against LSU in 11, the rematch, was a tough championship to win but then in 12 the true gut check championship was in the play-in game against UGA. Facing off against ND after the 2012 SECCG was a cakewalk. This year’s final shapes up a lot more like 2012 repeat than it does those other recent years. Go Dawgs!
Of course he is! A loss in this particular championship game would be a colossal embarrassment.