Paul Finebaum: Alabama believes they own Georgia

If Alabama can make it through Week 3, SEC host Paul Finebaum believes the Crimson Tide will have a swagger heading into a matchup against Georgia

Paul Finebaum, radio and ESPN television personality, gets ready to distribute words from his mouth | Ken Ruinard / staff, The Greenville News via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Finebaum joined ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy on his show, Always College Football, Wednesday morning to discuss the upcoming stretch for Alabama football and how Kalen DeBoer can win back support from the Crimson Tide fanbase.

The Tide earned their first victory of the season over Louisiana-Monroe over the weekend and have a home battle vs. Wisconsin this coming week. Win that one and 'Bama fans will climb right back aboard the hype train with Georgia coming up next, according to Paul Finebaum.

"I think a win here, as long as it’s decent, will give them a break during the off-week," Finebaum remarked of the Wisconsin game. "But I can already predict if the confidence comes back what Alabama fans are going to be saying the week of the Georgia game. They’re going to have a swagger, because they really do believe they own Georgia. Now, we can snicker, but the record lately, for the most part, backs that up."

Oh how the tables turn so quickly down in Tuscaloosa. However, as Finebaum goes on to note, Alabama has had success vs. the Dawgs of late. Kirby Smart did break through with his first win over Nick Saban in the 2021 college football playoff championship game, but otherwise, 'Bama has won nine out of ten against Georgia.

Although, Georgia has won 33 straight home football games and Alabama hasn't played between the hedges in literally 10 full seasons, with the last seven matchups between these two schools having taken place at Alabama or in the SEC championship, a title game matchup which occurred five times in the past decade. To set up another spotlight contest between these SEC superpowers, Alabama simply has to get by Wisconsin with a win, whatever it looks like.

"I think they just need to survive," Finebaum said of the Wisconsin matchup. "I don’t think there’s a number. I thought last week was maybe more important just to go out there and play a near-perfect game. And they did."

Perfection isn't the absolute goal against the Badgers, but rather, Finebaum wants to see Alabama gain its confidence back before the Tide return to Athens for the first time since they won there in 2015.

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