Alabama Football: Why ask if AU and UGA return to Atlanta in ’18?

Searching for headlines, pundits are asking if AU and UGA will return to Atlanta in 2018. Alabama football fans know it is a foolish question.

On the surface asking if Auburn and Georgia can return to the SEC Championship game in 2018 is a fair question. Until you think about it for a moment. Yes, by losing the Iron Bowl, Alabama football lost a chance to win a fourth straight SEC Championship. Auburn and Georgia had the honors.

So looking at 2018 (way too early) it makes sense to ask if Georgia makes it back to the SEC title game. Asking the same question about Auburn is just foolishness. Unless Jimbo Fisher really is a sort of sorcerers’ apprentice and conjures magic in College Station, Alabama football will win the SEC West with relative ease.

Ole Miss, Arkansas and Tennessee are reclamation projects. Texas A&M, Missouri and Mississippi State must come to Tuscaloosa. The Tide must travel to Baton Rouge in November. By then, Dave Aranda will have ordered new furniture for moving into Coach O’s office in December.

Minus Lamar Jackson, Bobby Petrino will have no magic in the opener

Dispensing with Louisville early in the season opener will be much easier than surviving a midweek Tide practice. Yes, we know Bobby Petrino is purportedly an offensive genius. Ask Ryan Mallett about genius Petrino offenses. Mallett was lucky to make the walk to the bus after the 2009 Arkansas game in Tuscaloosa. He threw 41 passes that day and completed 16. The Hogs lost 35-7. In the 2018 season opener, with a new QB, Louisville has no chance against the Alabama football defense, even with the Tide’s completely new secondary.

All of the above is to explain why the Tide will be11-0 when Auburn comes to T-Town on November 24, 2018. Auburn will probably have 8 or 9 wins, maybe even 10, before meeting the Tide. Gus has regained some of his offensive genius stature thanks to Chip Lindsey.

Gus has zero head coach wins in T-Town

It will not be enough in Tuscaloosa. Gus has never won as a head coach in Tuscaloosa. Maybe he can in 2020. It will not happen in 2018.

So SEC football fans, ignore silly fancies like Auburn returning to Atlanta in 2018. Other than a tweet posing the AU -UGA repeat premise, Who’s going to Atlanta in 2018 is an interesting read. The author, Chris Wright picked Alabama and Georgia with Mississippi State and South Carolina as the runner-up in each division.

Next: Saban is clear - "We're not finished YET"

Toomer’s Corner will not get rolled for a 2018, SEC West division championship. Gus can coast for years now if he chooses. Although the reported $49 million contract is yet to be signed, the $25 million guaranteed insures if football fails him, he can buy a bunch of Waffle Houses.