Is Georgia football on brink of a dynasty? Here's why I don't want to hear it | Goodbread

It gets a little old, this dynasty discussion.

Is Georgia football, as it prepares to face TCU on Monday in the College Football Playoff title game, on the brink of one? And just when did Alabama's dynasty officially shutter, anyway? Nobody loves talking college football more than yours truly, but there aren't many quicker ways to get me to disengage or redirect the discussion than the D-word. Undefinable terms bore me that way. It never takes long for an argument about whether a particular championship run qualifies as a dynasty to devolve into dueling theories on what a dynasty is in the first place. If the only qualification is two straight national titles, Georgia isn't there yet, and Alabama hasn't been there in a decade. If it's three in a row, we'll need an archeological dig on Minnesota, circa 1934-36.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary tells me the word dynasty descends from the Greek verb dynasthai, which simply means to have power. The modern definition as it pertains to sports? A powerful group or family that maintains its position for a considerable time. Nothing in there about what is meant by "considerable time," or for that matter, what it takes to break one up.

There's no debating this: a power shift at the top of the SEC has taken place. Georgia has replaced Alabama as the preeminent program in the league, and the Bulldogs are just 60 minutes away from back-to-back national titles. Nobody's seen the view from that peak since Nick Saban took Alabama there a decade ago, winning consecutive national crowns in 2011 and 2012. It's a remarkable accomplishment, and all the more impressive now that it takes two postseason wins, as opposed to the BCS era, to achieve it. To find undisputed back-to-back titles prior to that, you'd have to go back to the poll era, when Nebraska won it all in 1994 and 1995. A victory over the Horned Frogs would put Georgia on a historically significant tier.

For the Crimson Tide, however, the 2011-12 pinnacle isn't really the backbone of Saban's success. What's been more impressive? This: Saban's never had a three-year stretch at Alabama without at least one national title, and he's headed into his 17th season. That means every player he's ever signed who's stuck around for three years has at least one national championship ring. With a couple of exceptions, 2022 included, Alabama has been a late-season fixture in the hunt for a national title even in the years it hasn't claimed one.

In short, UA won't go away.

When Florida peaked under Urban Meyer, Alabama was there to meet them. When it was Clemson's turn for a run, the Crimson Tide was still taking in the view. It's Georgia's turn now, and while the Bulldogs are plainly on top, nobody would dispute that its primary challengers going forward include Alabama.

"When you get to the top of the mountain, you become the mountain," Saban once said.

For now, Georgia is the mountain.

But don't bother me with the D-word.

Reach Chase Goodbread at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @chasegoodbread.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Is Georgia football on brink of dynasty? Why I don't want to hear it