National Championship Game: 5 keys to victory for Georgia to beat Alabama

2. The Georgia defensive front-seven must provide pressure on Bryce Young

What allowed Williams to have a field day vs. the Georgia secondary was an absolute brain-fart of a football game out of the Bulldogs’ pass-rush. This team has been able to generate pressure all season long. Was it defensive coordinator Dan Lanning being asleep at the wheel with the Oregon job on the horizon? Either way, the Dawgs handed Bryce Young the Heisman Trophy in Atlanta.

No, it’s not going to be easy, but the Dawgs need to combine two of three defensive tactics to beat Alabama. If Georgia brings the same run defense it showed vs. Michigan and either gets the pass rush Auburn showed throughout much of the game in the Iron Bowl or the corners coverage Cincinnati had in the Cotton Bowl, Georgia will do just enough to beat Alabama. They have to do it.

1. Kirby Smart has to get over the mental hurdle and beat his mentor Nick Saban

Without debate, this is the single-most important thing Georgia can do. Kirby Smart cannot be afraid of Nick Saban, period. Whatever boogieman, bogeyman or however you pronounce it, Saban cannot be that for Smart. Georgia cannot look dead behind the eyes like Jim Harbaugh’s team did entering its Orange Bowl death trap on New Year’s Eve. Smart must be fearless to win this game.

Georgia has been painfully close twice to beating Alabama under Smart. There has never been a better time than now to get the job done. It is so incredibly difficult to beat the same team twice in one season. Georgia has to look in the mirror and try not to beat itself. Smart and the rest of the Dawgs have to stop putting Alabama on the pedestal. Otherwise, 1980 is never going to go away.

Georgia has the talent to beat Alabama, but it must win the mental battle to become champions.

For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.