ESPN’s David Pollack Sticks It To Nick Saban, Alabama By Saying Georgia Has ‘Taken Hold Of College Football’

David Pollack didn’t hold back — even with Alabama football coach Nick Saban sitting right next to him.

During halftime of Georgia’s 65-7 destruction of TCU in the College Football Playoff championship game, Pollack, an ESPN college football analyst, said that the Bulldogs have “taken hold of college football.” He added that “This is a young football team, this isn’t an old football team with a bunch of guys losing.”

Georgia’s dominant victory means that the Bulldogs are the first back-to-back national champions of the Playoff era and the first since Saban’s Alabama teams in 2011 and 2012. Georgia beat Alabama, 33-18, a year ago to win the title.

Saban owns seven national championships, while his former protégé , Kirby Smart, now has two.

Saban, who appeared as part of the telecast after his Alabama team was left out of the Playoff, clearly looked unhappy with Pollack’s comment. Call it pained, anguished, annoyed, angry, whatever. He wasn’t happy.

The comment also triggered many on social media, with @theSECpodcast Tweeting Pollack “likely just guaranteed Alabama will win the 2023 national championship.”

In fact, Georgia is the betting favorite for a three-peat, per Bet MGM, despite the fact that they will have a new quarterback replacing 25-year-old Stetson Bennett. The Bulldogs are listed at +300, ahead of Ohio State (+600), Alabama (+700) and USC (+700).

One thing’s for sure, Georgia is the current king of college football, continuing the SEC’s recent domination of the sport.

The league has now won four straight national championships and six of nine in the Playoff era. Alabama owns three of those, Georgia two and LSU one. Clemson of the ACC has won two and Ohio State of the Big Ten one.

No. 3 seed TCU was a terrific Cinderella story and deserved to make the four-team playoff by virtue of its record and resume. A year after finishing 5-7, the Horned Frogs were picked seventh in the Big 12, but then went on to beat No. 2 Michigan, 51-45, in a thrilling national semifinal in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Eve.

Yet their destruction at the hands of Georgia in the championship game led some critics to say they didn’t belong in the first place and speculate that a 2-loss Alabama team deserved a spot in the Playoff.

Leading up to the announcement of the four Playoff teams, Saban told ESPN that his team didn’t have any bad losses, while some other teams did. He pointed out that his team’s two losses — at Tennessee and at LSU — were by a combined 4 points, and that his quarterback, defending Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young, had been dealing with a shoulder injury.

He told ESPN’s Mardy Smith, “We are absolutely national-championship caliber.”

But those arguments didn’t go over with the committee, or with other experts at the time.

“I look at an Alabama team that has two losses, they’re not even in this conversation for me,” ESPN’s Booger McFarland said at the time. “The only reason they’re in this conversation is because of their history and what we’ve seen from Alabama.”

After Pollack’s pointed comments seated next to Saban, the college football world awaits what Alabama will do a year from now.