Getting past Week 5 and into Week 6 not easy for Alabama Football and Georgia fans

Days have passed since the thrilling Alabama Football victory over the Georgia Bulldogs. Crimson Tide fans are still celebrating, though a few add concerns about Alabama's second-half defensive performance. Georgia fans have made no more progress than Alabama fans in moving on to Week 6 contests. To the extent the Vanderbilt Commodores and the Auburn Tigers feel slighted, they are not wrong.

The last few days have been particularly tough for Georgia fans. They were sure Georgia would present an irrefutable claim to the college football throne by registering a win over Alabama. The roller-coaster Bulldog fans rode inside Bryant-Denny elicited many minutes of agony, without enough respites, finishing with two, slap-in-the-face reality checks in the game's final minutes.

Two different themes about the Bulldogs have been prominent this week. As defined by Dawn of the Dawg one theme is that neither Carson Beck nor the Georgia receivers are good enough to win shootout games. Quoting Josh Yourish, "The Bulldogs can’t match Texas, Tennessee, or Alabama’s talent at wide receiver, and if you thought the quarterback was good enough to make up for it, you were proven wrong on Saturday. If Smart is to win another SEC title, the big games need to be played in the 20s, not the 30s and 40s, because his offense can’t keep up without the risk of crippling turnovers."

The counter theme voiced by Georgia fans through social media and message board has an opposite message. It is Georgia, through its near miraculous comeback showed it is the better team than Alabama. Enough better, that a full complement of healthy starters, plus the knowledge gained after adjusting to a 28-0 deficit would ne more than enough to beat Alabama.

Georgia fans would have reasons for such optimism if their scenario painted a complete picture. But, it does not.

Alabama football fans don't buy Georgia's future scenario. One reason is while Georgia should be bolstered by a healthier roster in a next game, Alabama is the team more likely to have developed more. Alabama's roster; young at many positions, and across the board still learning new defensive and offensive systems, is the roster to be most improved in December and January. While a next game could be another nail-biter, it could also be closer to the Alabama explosion on Saturday night that built a 28-point lead.

History on the side of Alabama Football

There's another factor and it can't be ignored. History is on the side of the Crimson Tide. Going way back to when Paul Bryant 'came home' Alabama's record against the Bulldogs is 21-10. Measured not as far back, since a 1990 game, the Tide's record against the Dawgs is 12-5. Since Nick Saban's first season in Tuscaloosa, the record for Bama is an even more dominant, 9-2. More telling is Georgia is 1-9 in its last 10 games against Alabama. Maybe the history has no impact on Georgia's players. The same can't be said for Kirby Smart and his staff. Doubt has crept into Athens. It will not be vanquished until the Bulldogs beat Alabama or Georgia wins another National Championship before Alabama wins its next one.