Stephen A. Smith couldn’t believe his ears. In fact, he called it blasphemy.

The “First Take” host stared on in disbelief as Paul Finebaum declared Georgia the top college football program.

Smith is pumping his brakes on such things. He cites Alabama coach Nick Saban, his six national championships with the Tide as well as the No. 1 recruiting class. He continues to push the idea that if former Alabama receivers John Metchie and Jameson Williams weren’t injured in last year’s CFP national title game, we wouldn’t even be talking about two straight for the Bulldogs.

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Finebaum, on the other hand, contends Kirby Smart’s team has done more than enough to earn the distinction as best in the land.

“I don’t know what either one of you guys are smoking to think Georgia isn’t the king of college football today,” Finebaum told Smith and Keyshawn Johnson. “I don’t know what else they have to do.

“You mentioned them playing in the national championship game in the 2017 season. They didn’t just play in it. They lost in overtime on a Tua (Tagovailoa) to DeVonta Smith walk-off against Alabama. Alabama won the COVID year. Stephen A., you talked about how beat downs don’t happen to good teams. Yes, they do. Remember four years ago> Do you remember Clemson beating Alabama by 28 points?”

Finebaum is quick to point out that no one is dismissing the Tide.

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“He’s the best of all time, but he’s the No. 2 coach in the country right now behind Kirby Smart. That is inescapable in my mind.”

Smith cites Alabama winning three titles in eight seasons. Finebaum counters with only one of those has come in the past five years. “That’s not a dynasty,” he said. “He had a dynastic run. Now, the program has stepped back. It hasn’t stepped back much.”

Georgia’s dominance over TCU doesn’t do much for Finebaum, though. He believes Alabama would have done the same thing to the Horned Frogs.

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“We are seeing a changing of the guard,” he explained. “The fact that we are even talking about someone possibly being better today than Nick Saban is a major paradigm shift. He owned this sport. He doesn’t own it anymore.”

Mark Heim is a sports reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim.