Keys for Georgia to Cover vs. Alabama in the College Football Playoff National Championship

The Georgia Bulldogs enter the College Football Playoff National Championship in hopes of winning their first title in the CFP era.

In their way is arch rival Alabama, who beat them in 2018 National Championship, one of the best games in the sport's history that went to overtime.

More noteworthy is that this is a rematch from this season's SEC Championship game, a 41-24 defeat to the Crimson Tide in a game that the then-undefeated Bulldogs were favored by 6.5 points.

Now, they enter the National title game as 3-point favorites at WynnBET Sportsbook with a total of 52.

How can the Bulldogs exact revenge on the Crimson Tide and hoist the hardware? Here are some keys to a Georgia victory.

Pass to Set up the Run

We know about the Alabama offense, anchored by Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young. But what about the Georgia offense, which looked much more at ease against a stout Michigan defense in the Orange Bowl, scoring 34 points and averaging 7.7 yards per play?

We saw Stetson Bennett look more comfortable against a sophisticated Michigan defense and better than he did in the SEC Championship game, when he threw two interceptions.

The team is bottom 20 nationally in plays per minute while running it on more than 57% of their plays. At their core, this is a rush first team. However, I'm going to counter and say that the Bulldogs offense needs to take a few chances to attack a susceptible Alabama defense.

Georgia trails only Alabama in explosive pass rate this season and Bennett has shown a knack of making plays despite struggles in the SEC title game. I'm curious if the team deploys running back James Cook in the passing game after he had four catches for 112 yards to attack Alabama's linebackers.

While I'm not advocating for the Bulldogs to get into a shootout, I believe that the team should trust Bennett to throw early to set up the ground game and keep the vaunted Tide offense on the sidelines.

Georgia was limited to 3.6 yards pre carry in the December meeting as the Tide built an early lead and began to open up more blitz packages. However, Bennett is going to need to make plays in order to keep the Crimson Tide pass rush honest and open up their primary point of attack on the ground.

Get Pressure on Bryce Young

The Crimson Tide went with a very vanilla game plan against Cincinnati in the CFP semifinal game, confident they can overpower the Bearcats in the trenches. While that worked against Cincy, running back Brian Robinson Jr. carried the ball 25 times for 198 yards, that won't happen again against Georgia, who is top five in defensive rush success rate.

The Bulldogs showed a ton of growth from game to game in overwhelming the Michigan passing game. The team forced four sacks and allowed just a paltry 5.93 yards per attempt.

Again, this is a different beast in the Alabama offense, but it's worth mentioning that the Georgia defense could have been masking some defensive play calls in the SEC Championship game with an eye on the CFP. Alabama's season was on the line in that game while the Bulldogs likely had a spot in the final four locked up.

It's arguably more notable that the Crimson Tide will be without sure handed receiver John Metchie, who tore his ACL in the prior meeting. If the Bulldogs are able to commit more attention to Jameson Williams, who had 184 receiving yards in the December matchup, they can dial up more pressure on Young, who has completed less than 50% of his passes when under duress, according to Pro Football Focus.

If Georgia can get into the backfield more with Alabama died their most trustworthy receiver, Young is in for a long night.

Overreacting to SEC Championship

I alluded to it above, but I'm not sure we should hold too much weight on one game where motivation may have played a role in the result.

Again, Georgia was in the CFP win or lose in the SEC Championship game while Alabama needed the win. I'm not sure that the result of that game, a thorough Alabama beatdown, warrants a 3.5-point line move.

There could've been some game theory on the side of UGA in the prior matchup, holding back several defensive schemes to keep the Crimson Tide guessing come Monday night. There was little incentive for the Bulldogs to throw the kitchen sink on the Crimson Tide considering the two could meet again in the National Championship. Look what we have here, that scenario playing out.

The team didn't get a single sack on Young in the first matchup, I wouldn't count on that again.

The betting market has spoken that Georgia is the favorite and I would caution not to overreact to one result in this meeting.