Here we are again.

First Saturday of December, to the right of Northside Drive in Atlanta, the two bullies meet again.

Alabama and Georgia are like fraternal twins — built in the same image and chiseled from the same bedrock yet not exactly clones.

Both stocked with similar talent pools thanks to countless head-to-head recruiting battles and even a few intra-powerhouse transfers, they’re always connected in ways others aren’t.

Perhaps that’s why Alabama and Georgia can’t play boring games. Even when one pulls away late, final scores don’t overshadow the preceding fight.

That brings us to 3 p.m. CT Saturday in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the 6-year-old home to a few Crimson Tide-Bulldog scraps in its young life.

Of course, 2nd-and-26 wasn’t the SEC title game but it christened their history in the building. Later that year, Jalen Hurts wrote his movie script but the 2023 reunion is being connected most to the 2021 league championship.

A one-loss Alabama limped to Atlanta with a shockingly close win against an average Auburn team only to face an unbeaten and barely-tested Georgia.

Just a mirror image two years later.

And Alabama’s subsequent 41-24 win is floating a few boats west of Athens this week. This is a Crimson Tide team on a non-linear yet entertaining return from the September dead who needed to catch every break while showing as much in-season improvement as any Nick Saban team.

After slalom skiing that minefield, they’ve arrived at the College Football Playoff quarterfinal.

Georgia’s operated more with the cruel-machinery mentality. Dealing with a few key offensive injuries didn’t slow the assembly line as the Bulldogs enter with a 29-game winning streak, the longest in SEC history.

They’re the undisputed No. 1 team despite rarely having its best two receiving threats heathy at the same time. Ladd McConkey and Brock Bowers sat out Saturday’s win at Georgia Tech and they’ve maintained the mystery this week.

It was Bowers who shined brightest as a freshman in Georgia’s SEC title-game loss to Alabama. The tight end was a monster with 10 catches, 139 yards and a touchdown.

But here’s the thing and it’s hard to overstate.

That 2021 game was a knockout game for Alabama and Alabama only. As the only unbeaten Power 5 team, the top-ranked Bulldogs could afford a loss in the SEC title game. Both teams played to their situation and the outcome spoke to it. Georgia didn’t exactly show the same aggressive defense it used to claim revenge a month later in the CFP championship when the throttle was fully engaged.

This time’s different.

Uga doesn’t necessarily have room to soil the plastic turf Saturday evening.

Kirby Smart doesn’t have the luxury of soft-launching a postseason plan in the semifinal with Michigan, Oregon-Washington, Florida State and Texas making their case this weekend. Michigan, FSU and the Longhorns won’t face near the test on the final so expect to see a different level of urgency this time around.

Seriously, two years ago, Bryce Young went from being sacked seven times against mid-tier Auburn defense to escaping without one a week later against Georgia’s pro-NFL squad. The Bulldogs proceeded to physically pound Young in the 33-18 national title game, sacking him four times while forcing rushed throws in several other key moments.

Alabama’s best bet would be to use its aggressive pass rush to rattle QB Carson Beck in ways he hasn’t felt to this point while relying on a much-improved secondary. There are weapons behind McConkey and Bowers but having one or both of them out would certainly change the math.

And the Tide’s ability to hit the big play that’s kept this season on life support for three months will be critical. It was two years ago when Jameson Williams and John Metchie went to town and helped Young win a Heisman. This year’s group doesn’t necessarily have that high-end talent but a few capable of breaking one along with a quarterback who creates matchup issues that’s hard for a scout-team to replicate.

It would take an LSU-game offensive outburst to get where they want to be Saturday night.

Alabama will also have to contain a diverse ground game (5.3 yards per carry) and the No. 8 passing offense.

Georgia’s diverse. It’s balanced and efficient.

And when it faced the biggest tests, the Bulldogs passed without too much trouble. It thrashed then-No. 9 Ole Miss, 52-17 and No. 18 Tennessee, 38-10. Alabama needed to comeback to beat both.

Top-10 Missouri gave the biggest scare before Georgia claimed a 30-21 win.

The way the Bulldogs handled these marquee games and the stakes involved make them the rightful favorite Saturday.

It’s the difference between a finished product meeting one almost there.

Or maybe a cake that’s fully baked versus the kind Saban first mentioned at SEC media days.

The final tooth-pick test comes Saturday in a familiar place and familiar time.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.