INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – It never fails.

Every time Georgia prepares to play Alabama, Kirby Smart is asked about what he learned from Nick Saban, and whether or not he always felt Georgia could become a program similar to the Crimson Tide.

Predictably, this was again the case during Sunday’s final Zoom session to preview Monday night’s National Championship (8 p.m., ESPN).

Although Smart was likely wincing on the inside, Georgia’s head coach dutifully answered the question.

While Saban’s role as a mentor cannot be understated, Smart made it clear his goal wasn’t for Georgia to become just like Alabama. It was for the Bulldogs to create a standard of their own.

“My biggest goal was to be successful when I came to Georgia,” Smart said. “When you take on your first head coaching job, I was very fortunate to work under some really good head coaches, the likes of Coach Saban, Coach (Bobby) Bowden, Coach (Mark) Richt and my father (Sonny Smart). A lot of those people impacted me.”

Smart will acknowledge there are similarities. From the way the two programs are organized to how they are run in some areas, the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide are comparable. One does not spend as much time with Saban as Smart without being affected.

Nevertheless, coaching at Georgia has advantages of its own.

“The state of Georgia and the high school coaches and the support you get in the state of Georgia for football makes it a very fertile area. You’re always going to have a good recruiting base. And we've been able to have that,” Smart said. “If you recruit well, have good coaches, have good development, good strength program, you're going to have a chance at success. That was certainly the goal from the outset.”

Monday night, Smart and the Bulldogs will stake their claim for the sport’s ultimate prize – the program’s first national championship since 1980.

For Bulldog supporters everywhere, the anticipation of finally ending the drought is palpable. As a Georgia native and graduate of UGA, Smart certainly gets how people feel.

Yet with kickoff just a day away, this is not the time for nostalgia.

“What I feel is how do we stop Bryce Young, and how do we control their front, and how do we run the ball, how do we throw the ball with efficiency, how do we convert third downs and stop them in the red area,” Smart said. “That's the furthest from my concern because I don't all-in-all control that.”

Even novice fans of the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide can recite the recent history between the two programs.

Alabama has won seven straight over the Bulldogs, despite the fact Georgia has held leads in five of those games.

“I think the University of Georgia, Kirby's program is probably one of the elite programs in the country. He's done an outstanding job there making that program what it is. And obviously the players and people that are in the organization have made that program what it is,” Saban said. “We certainly feel like this is the best team in the country that we have an opportunity to play, the most consistent team all season long, in terms of how they played. Just looking at the future, it probably will be for some time in the future as well.”

Similar to the SEC Championship, Georgia comes into the game a three-point favorite according to oddsmakers in Las Vegas.

In that game, the Crimson Tide played the “disrespect card” to their advantage, winning 41-24. During a zoom session on Saturday, Alabama’s Will Anderson tried to play it again.

Saban was asked about “the angle” during Sunday’s Zoom.

“Well, when you say, ‘those angles have been used a lot,’ used by whom? I think a lot of external people talk about things like that. I think internally, you know, we talk a lot about what do you have to do technically in the game to be able to have success in terms of your ability to execute probably against the best player you played against all year,” Saban said. “So, that's how you have to prepare, and that's how you have to focus, and that's what you need to be concerned about, because I think once the game starts, five minutes into the game, I don't know that anybody's thinking about all this stuff that you all talk about. They're trying to win their box. They're trying to do what they can do to help their team, both sides of the ball. So, we expect that, and that's what our players need to be focused on.”

For the Bulldogs, it’s all about keeping focus and giving themselves the best chance to make a dream a reality.

Monday night, the entire country will see for itself what happens.

“Our players have done a tremendous job buying in. It makes for a long season when you play the extra championship game, semifinal game,” Smart said. “Everybody's got to buy into that. And everybody's got to understand the importance of you've got to play your best at the end. And that's what we've been climbing, trying to do.”