College GameDay’s Desmond Howard Explains Why He Could See Georgia Losing National Championship

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The 2021 college football season comes to a close on Monday as Georgia looks to get its revenge on Alabama. Ahead of the College Football Playoff National Championship, College GameDay’s Desmond Howard shared his thoughts on the game.

In an exclusive interview, the former Heisman Trophy winner talked about what it will take for the Bulldogs to beat the Tide and why he could see them losing again. It is a completely different game than it was in Atlanta.

Ahead of the SEC Championship game, Howard picked UGA.

“This team has been consistent the whole year. I don’t see any reason why Georgia can not win this game.”

His pick in December came based on what the picture looked like at the time.

“At the time, Georgia was undefeated and Georgia was yielding less than eight points per game defensively,” he said. “The flipside is— Alabama didn’t look great. Against Arkansas, it was a one-score game. They couldn’t pull away from Arkansas and I thought they would just handle Arkansas.”

“And then a few weeks later, they played the Iron Bowl, and again, they didn’t look great offensively. It took them four overtimes to beat Auburn, which isn’t really a great Auburn team by any stretch of the imagination.”

“Based on that data I had, based what I had seen, why would I think Georgia was going to lose? Why would I think that Alabama was going to roll into Georgia’s backyard, Atlanta, and score on five consecutive drives?”

“Nobody would have expected that. Nobody would have taken that bet, that Alabama would score five-straight times against one of the best defenses we have seen in a long time. But they did it!”

Ahead of the CFP National Championship, Howard has new information that changes the picture.

“Now I’ve got new data,” he said. “Right? I’ve got new data! They played against each other!”

“This time, I could see Georgia losing. Mentally, they might not be able to get over that Nick Saban hump. I’m not sure, they could lose!”

“The thing going into this game that is different is that Alabama does not have John Metchie III. He was a very important piece of that offense. And not only that, but he was a very important piece that Georgia had to prepare for.”

“Now, they can put more focus on Jameson Williams, because is that guy. To me, Kirby Smart comes to the defensive meeting room like ‘listen, dammit, Jameson Williams isn’t going to beat us in this National Championship Game.’ You couldn’t do that in the SEC Championship game because you had John Metchie III and Jameson Williams and you can’t double both guys.”

“So that’s the big difference in this game, and it’s going to be interesting to see how they approach defending Alabama’s offense, especially Jameson Williams. He could be the difference on Monday.”

Will Howard stick with the Dawgs? Will he change his tune and go with the Tide? We will have to wait and see on Monday.

Before the National Championship kicks off on Monday, enter to win a trip to next year’s game!

Modelo is the Official Beer Sponsor of the College Football Playoff and is celebrating the most passionate football fans in the country, as well as the plays that most demonstrate the fighting spirit in the College Football Playoff National Championship.

To celebrate, Modelo is doing a few things:

  • If one of the most thrilling plays in football – a punt return for a touchdown – occurs in the CFP National Championship Game, Modelo will reward 300 lucky fans with free beer for the entire 2022 college football season – awarded in the form of a $108 gift card. (108 yards = $108, get it?)
  • One lucky winner will receive tickets to enter for a chance to win tickets and a trip to next year’s CFP National Championship in Los Angeles

To enter, it’s very simple:

  1. Tweet @ModeloUSA using the #CFPFightingSpiritSweepstakes and #21+ before Monday, January 10, 2021 at midnight eastern time to enter for a chance to win.
  2. That’s it. That’s all you have to do. It’s that easy.

Here is what Howard had to say about the partnership:

“I love the slogan ‘The Fighting Spirit,’ because college football is all about the Fighting Spirit. Whether it’s the fans or the teams, it’s all about the Fighting Spirit, it’s the perfect slogan for college football. It’s great to see that Modelo is the official beer sponsor of the College Football Playoff.”