Nick Saban gives his take on Georgia

The similarities between the 2021 and 2023 SEC Championship Games are there for Alabama.

Two years ago, the Crimson Tide came into Atlanta off a thrilling victory over Auburn in the Iron Bowl. Their reward proved to be facing undefeated and No. 1 Georgia for the conference crown.

"We didn't sort of channel all the passion and the great execution in this last game. I think that was very similar to the game you're referring to a couple years ago," Alabama head coach Nick Saban said in a teleconference on Sunday. "To get our players to sort of have good perspective on building on the things they did well and improving the things we didn't do well so that we can channel our passion into positive execution on a more consistent basis. I think that was the focus a couple years ago, and certainly going to be the focus in this game."

Saban knows his squad has its work cut out against the Bulldogs on Saturday. He referred to the Bulldogs as "to me the best team in the country." Alabama's head coach gave his thoughts on Georgia, Bulldog head coach Kirby Smart, and more.

Georgia's win over Georgia Tech Saturday night made history.

That victory pushed Georgia's current win streak to 29, setting a new SEC record. Saban, an architect of some impressive streaks of his own, acknowledged the feat on Sunday.

"It's phenomenal what (Smart) has been able to accomplish at Georgia," Saban said. "I mean, to win as many games in a row, win a couple championships, have another chance to do it again a third time, I mean, that's phenomenal. It's phenomenal to win however many games - what is it, 29, I don't even know for sure - but how many games they've won in a row... We won 19 games in a row here twice. I know how hard that was. It's hard to sustain."

As the world knows, Smart worked under Saban for years before coming to Georgia. Saban reflected on what he saw in Smart then that has now turned him into one of the top coaches in college football.

"I hired Kirby, he was really, really young," Saban said. "He was a position coach and did a great job as a position coach. We elevated him to be the coordinator. I kind of knew that he had great leadership qualities. That's why we made him coordinator. When he was a coordinator, he did a great job of managing that side of the ball. I knew he'd be an outstanding head coach someday."

The last meeting between Georgia and Alabama is still stuck in Saban's head.

The Bulldogs used 20 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to beat Alabama 33-18 in the 2021 National Championship Game. That memory is still fresh for the Crimson Tide head coach.

"They just outplayed us tremendously in the last 10, 11 minutes of the game," Saban said. "You always want to be able to finish. We lost on the last play of the game to Clemson way back when. I felt like I should have called timeout and didn't. So there's always things that haunt you when you don't have success. They outplayed us the last 10, 11 minutes of the game. You always want your team to be able to finish."

Saban fielded a question about how he's seen the Georgia program evolve since that night in Indianapolis. While he said he hasn't studied Georgia extensively yet, Saban said he hasn't noticed much difference in what he has seen this season.

"I think their defense is a lot like it's been in the past. They've got really good players. They've got a really good system. They do a good job of executing. They got good tackling, good secondary people," Saban said. "Offensively, they're running the ball very effectively. A lot of squeeze formations. Have a great play-action passing game off of that to go with the running game. Obviously with the quarterback and the receivers they have, they have an excellent passing game as well."

Saban's relationship with Georgia quarterback Carson Beck goes back a bit.

Beck committed to Saban and the Crimson Tide in the summer before his junior season of high school. He backed off that pledge the following February and eventually committed to Georgia.

More than five years after initially earning Beck's commitment, Saban is set to face him in Saturday's championship bout. Saban has been impressed from what he's seen so far.

"I think he does a really, really good job of executing their offense," Saban said. "He doesn't make very many bad reads. He throws the ball in the right place. He's very accurate with the ball. He throws it on time. He understands their offense very, very well. Executes the play that's called and distributes the call correctly, almost flawlessly."