Kirby Smart is not yet Nick Saban. He has only two national titles to Saban's seven. He has two conference titles to Saban's 11. He has plenty of work to do in regard to all-time greatness.
Saban, however, has never done that.
Smart's Georgia Bulldogs on Monday night won their second straight College Football Playoff National Championship, humiliating TCU 65-7. It was the largest scoring margin in bowl history and their 29th win in 30 games. The Dawgs joined 2018 Clemson and 2019 LSU as the third team to finish a season 15-0, and the resounding nature of their title-game win dwarfed even Alabama's most dominant moments.
From a power rankings standpoint, TCU isn't the second-best team in the country. The Horned Frogs, however, are still one of the 10 or so best, and Georgia treated them like a Division III team. The playcalling was perfect, testing TCU's 3-3-5 defense on the edges where it's most vulnerable. The execution was so good that some blockers on key plays couldn't even find anyone to block. TCU's defense created exactly the sort of third-and-longs it needed to create, and Georgia converted them, moving the chains on third-and-10, third-and-11 and third-and-15 and going 9-for-13 overall. TCU needed to force a couple of turnovers to put itself in position to succeed, and Georgia ended up plus-3.
TCU just didn't have the dudes. Once this Georgia team showed up, nothing else mattered.
The Dawgs finish the 2022 season having only really been tested twice. They played five games against teams ranked 11th or better in the AP poll at the time, and they won four of them by an average score of 48-13. Only Ohio State in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl semifinal (a 42-41 win) and, strangely, SEC East foe Missouri (26-22 in Columbia in October) were able to stay within single digits. Georgia battled injuries to stars for much of the season, but it had such depth that it didn't matter. This was a season of historic dominance, and it completed one of the most dominant two-year stretches of our lifetimes.
Going 29-1 over a two-season span -- with the only loss coming against a team it then defeated in the national title game -- is nearly unprecedented. The 1944-45 Army teams, with a roster plumped up by World War II enrollment, were unbeaten and nearly untested, but they also had to win only 18 games in two years; Georgia almost did that in 2022 alone!
Sticking to just the past 50 years, college football's modern era with integrated rosters and true freshman eligibility, only one school can claim to have done something more impressive than what we just saw. And I'm not sure even that claim holds up.
The 10 best two-season runs of the past 50 years
10. 1973-74 Oklahoma
9. 1974-75 Oklahoma
Combined record: 21-0-1 and 22-1, respectively
Scoring averages: 39.7 points per game and 10.2 allowed (plus-29.5) in 1973-74; 35.5 points per game and 10.7 allowed (plus-24.8) in 1974-75
Accomplishments: One claimed a national title, two Big Eight titles, eight combined wins over ranked opponents in 1973-74; two claimed national titles, two Big Eight titles, nine combined wins over ranked opponents and three over top-five teams in 1974-75
There will always be a bit of a what-if associated with this era of Oklahoma football. Both the 1973 and 1974 teams were banned from the postseason and didn't face quite the same level of schedule as others on this list. But holy smokes, were they dominant. The Selmon brothers keyed some of the best defenses of the 1970s, and running back Joe Washington led a relentless Wishbone offense.
After tying top-ranked USC and narrowly avoiding an upset bid from Miami early in 1973, OU only let one of its next 21 opponents stay within less than 14 points. The 1974 team was one of the best of all time, and the 1975 team was nearly as dominant until a late stretch of injuries.
8. 2004-05 USC
Combined record: 24-1
Scoring averages: 43.6 points per game and 17.9 points allowed (plus-25.7)
Accomplishments: One national title, two Pac-10 titles, eight combined wins over ranked opponents and one over top-five teams
Granted, Pete Carroll's 2003 Trojans earned a split of the national title, but the 2005 team that fell just short was a much more dominant team overall (and boasted more ranked wins), so we're going to give the nod to this pair of teams.
USC players won the Heisman in both 2004 (Matt Leinart) and 2005 (Reggie Bush, whose win was later vacated, but we watched him win it, so it counts). They lost only to one of the best teams of the century (2005 Texas), and until Monday night, their 55-19 shellacking of Oklahoma in the 2004 BCS Championship Game was the most dominant show of force we'd ever seen in college football's marquee game.
7. 2001-02 Miami
6. 2000-01 Miami
Combined record: 24-1 and 23-1, respectively
Scoring averages: 41.6 points per game and 14.6 points allowed (plus-27.0) in 2001-02; 42.4 points per game and 12.8 points allowed (plus-29.6) in 2000-01
Accomplishments: One national title, two Big East titles, nine combined wins over ranked opponents and one over top-five teams in 2001-02; one national title, two Big East titles, eight combined wins over ranked opponents and three over top-five teams in 2000-01
The second dominant era of The U peaked with the 2001 national title and two close calls. The Hurricanes came up just short of a spot in the BCS Championship in 2000, losing early in the season to an excellent Washington team and running the table from there.
They rolled through the 2001 season unbeaten and barely tested -- only a top-15 Virginia Tech team came close to an upset -- and the 2002 team extended the program's winning streak to 34 games before falling to Ohio State in an overtime heartbreaker in the BCS Championship.
5. 1986-87 Miami
4. 1987-88 Miami
Combined record: 23-1 each
Scoring averages: 35.1 points per game and 11.5 points allowed (plus-23.6) in 1986-87; 34.6 points per game and 10.0 points allowed (plus-24.6) in 1987-88
Accomplishments: One national title, nine combined wins over ranked opponents and three over top-five teams in 1986-87; one national title, 11 combined wins over ranked teams and three over top-five teams in 1987-88
If, a year from now, Georgia has won another title and I'm ranking the best three-year runs, this stretch from Miami will probably make the list even though it somehow produced just one title. (The 1987-89 run, which featured two titles, will rank even higher.)
From 1986 to '88, Miami went 34-2, unceremoniously ended Barry Switzer's run of dominance at Oklahoma and beat a combined eight top-10 teams, six by double digits. The Hurricanes' only losses were by a combined five points to national champions (Penn State in a massive upset in 1986, Notre Dame in 1988). They lost eight draft picks after the 1986 season and got better; they lost another eight after 1987 and kept rolling. The U was a factory in the late 1980s.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart expresses his thoughts on leading the Bulldogs to a second straight College Football Playoff championship.
3. 2011-12 Alabama
Combined record: 25-2
Scoring averages: 36.9 points per game and 9.6 allowed (plus-27.3)
Accomplishments: Two national titles, one SEC title, nine combined wins over ranked opponents and four over top-five teams
You could make a case that Nick Saban's 2019-20 Crimson Tide should also be on this list -- they went 24-2, and while they won only one national title in those two years, the 2020 team was the single best of the Saban run (and, until this Georgia team, the best of the CFP era). If this were a top-11 list, they would have made it.
The 2011-12 Tide were absolute no-brainers, however. They fielded a pair of the best defenses of the 2000s, holding 14 of 27 opponents to single digits and giving up 14 total points in two BCS Championship wins. (Bama's defensive coordinator at the time? Kirby Smart.) They also scored 40-plus points 13 times, and running back Trent Richardson finished third in the 2011 Heisman voting.
This was an absurd and complete team that lost only to LSU in 2011 -- a loss that was avenged in the national title game -- and Texas A&M's best team of the 2000s in 2012.
2. 1994-95 Nebraska
Combined record: 25-0
Scoring averages: 43.9 points per game and 13.4 points allowed (plus-30.5)
Accomplishments: Two national titles, two Big Eight titles, nine combined wins over ranked opponents and three over top-five teams
I'm not going to lie: I've gone back and forth on the top two teams multiple times. The case for this pair of Nebraska teams having the best two-year run is easy to make. For starters, the Huskers didn't lose! With Tommie Frazier out with a blood clot issue for much of 1994, they had to ride a dominant defense to fend off some close calls and clinched the national title with a comeback win over Miami in the Orange Bowl. In 1995, they fielded probably the best team of the 1990s and one of the best ever.
The '95 Huskers played four teams that won double-digit games and beat them by an average score of 49-18. They were 3.5-point favorites over a loaded Florida team -- one that would win the national title in 1996 -- in the Fiesta Bowl. After spotting the Gators a 10-6 lead in the first quarter, they unleashed a 36-0 run and unofficially put away an eventual 62-24 win with Frazier's 75-yard gallop, one of the most famous rushes in the sport's history.
Even with a few closer-than-expected calls in 1994 -- a 28-12 win against a winless Iowa State team and 10-point wins over six-win Wyoming and Oklahoma -- the 1995 team was so dominant that the Huskers outscored opponents by more than 30 points per game in this two-year stretch, the best average on this list. Unbeaten with unprecedented (on this list) dominance? Sounds like a team with a good claim for No. 1!
1. 2021-22 Georgia
Combined record: 29-1
Scoring averages: 39.8 points per game and 12.2 allowed (plus-27.6)
Accomplishments: Two national titles, one SEC title, 11 combined wins over ranked opponents and six over top-five teams
Recency bias? Maybe. But in an era that demands more of its national champion -- both in terms of the heavy load (15 total games) and elite opponents (two wins over top-four teams at the end) -- Georgia still produced a better average scoring margin than any team on this list besides 1994-95 Nebraska, 2000-01 Miami and 1973-74 Oklahoma. The Bulldogs beat a total of six top-five teams, and while they did lose a game -- unlike Nebraska -- they avenged that loss in the CFP.
One other point in Georgia's favor here: Nebraska probably wasn't even the best team in 1994. That the Huskers came up big in the clutch to win Tom Osborne's first title was inspirational, but it wasn't the most dominant run ever. Georgia, on the other hand, was clearly the class of college football in both of its seasons. Until I change my mind again, I'm going with the Dawgs.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart lifts the College Football Playoff trophy for the second consecutive season.
What's scariest about this, of course, is that this run could be just beginning. It will be defined and given extra context by what happens in the coming years: Are these the first two titles in a Saban-esque run for Smart? Will the Dawgs pull off an almost unfathomable three-peat next year? Will Saban's Tide catch back up and make another run of their own?
Winning back-to-back-to-back titles is almost impossible in college football. Inopportune injuries eventually strike. The pointy ball bounces funny at just the wrong time. Other teams with loads of blue-chip talent find a rhythm and rise. Saban and Alabama came within a couple of games of a three-peat in 2013 but fell victim to one of the most shocking and enduring rivalry losses we've ever seen. College football has a way of bopping teams on the nose eventually. Georgia will enter 2023 as the top dawg and won't have as many key players to replace as it did this time last year. We don't completely know what this is the start of in Athens, but it's the start of something.
One last note as we continue to digest what we saw Monday night: Let's celebrate Georgia more than we denigrate TCU. I've seen a decent amount of snide commentary regarding how Ohio State-Georgia turned out to be the real national title game, or how this result proved that Alabama should have gotten more CFP consideration at TCU's expense. But it's not TCU's fault the Crimson Tide lost twice, and it's not TCU's fault that Ohio State got blown out by Michigan, thereby dropping to the No. 4 spot and drawing Georgia in the semis.
Sonny Dykes' Horned Frogs were seasoned and resilient and provided inspiration for every non-blue blood program. They proved that excellent roster construction, modern tactics and strong leadership can help a team overcome a lack of blue-chip recruiting and take it as far as the national title game. They played poorly in Los Angeles and suffered what was essentially a second-round knockout because of it, but that should take away nothing from what they accomplished to get here.
And again, once this Georgia team showed up, nothing else mattered. Michigan would have lost almost as badly.