Watching Georgia dominate a talented opponent with a swarming defense felt like deja vu.

Alabama used to look like this, overwhelming almost every opponent through superior athletes and coaching. In a game marked as the biggest test of the season, Georgia silenced any remaining critics with a convincing win against Tennessee. It made the most compelling argument yet that it is the best team in the country.

Fast-forward a couple of hours, and that’s anything but what we saw from Alabama in a 32-31 loss in Baton Rouge that knocked it out of playoff contention. It is the earliest a Nick Saban-led Alabama team has had two losses in a season since 2010.

This season was supposed to be the revenge tour Alabama team. Led by Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young and future top NFL draft pick Will Anderson, Alabama had quite possibly the nation’s top two players both coming back to the same team. Saban added some key pieces from the transfer portal and looked ready to run roughshod across college football. All the offseason talk was last year was the time to get Alabama because it would be too good to go down this season.

And yet this Alabama team has looked flawed since barely escaping with a win against Texas. No one has stepped up to replace what Jameson Williams and John Metchie brought to the table last season, putting even more pressure on Young to deliver something out of nothing over-and-over again. Young is a magician, he showed that again multiple times against the Tigers, but he can only do so much, especially with a lingering shoulder injury that has limited his practice reps. That Alabama will lose Young after this season with zero national championships to show for his spectacular play has to be among the biggest failures of Saban’s time in Tuscaloosa.

How the defense has devolved would be right up there, too. There were zero reasons to have any confidence Alabama’s defense could get a stop late against LSU, but it was still stunning to see how easily Jayden Daniels and others moved the ball against the Tide. It is obvious that teams aren’t scared of Alabama anymore and are excited about the opportunity to attack them in ways they wouldn’t have dreamed of even five years ago. This Alabama defense is nothing like its successful predecessors, even if there is an elite individual talent like Anderson.

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One problem is too much of the talent that populated Alabama’s defense over the years goes to places like Georgia now. Kirby Smart has stacked top recruiting classes in Athens, filling his roster with monsters like Jalen Carter and Kelee Ringo, who both had big games against Tennessee. Alabama used to have plenty of guys like that too, but doesn’t have nearly enough anymore, especially on the defensive line. Without a star like Carter wreaking havoc up front, Alabama has to rely more on quantity than quality to create pressure.

Tennessee’s passing game badly burned the Tide a few weeks back, capitalizing on Jalin Hyatt to blow past safety DeMarco Hellams multiple times. After the game, Saban attributed it to Tennessee doing a good job of scheming to find mismatches like that. Georgia was much more effective against the Volunteers, seeming to take inspiration from what we see a lot of NFL defenses do now – it wasn’t going to let the opposing offense beat it downfield and focused on keeping receivers in front of them and making tackles in the open field. Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker missed a couple of deep throw attempts that could have been big, but, for the most part, Georgia did a terrific job of bottling him up all game in a way Alabama wasn’t capable of doing in Knoxville.

Is there a changing of the guard happening in the SEC? If there is, this is how it happens.

Georgia was supposed to take a step back this season after losing five first-round draft picks, but instead looks as strong as ever and will now be the favorite to win it all. Smart can win back-to-back national championships, the first man to do so since his former boss, Saban, did while they worked together at Alabama. Saban will likely miss the College Football Playoff for the second time and will have won one title in the last five seasons.

Most concerning for Alabama would be there’s no reason to believe the team’s title hopes will be any better next season. Saban raised eyebrows this offseason when he referred to last year as a rebuilding year, but what lies ahead might be that. With Young and Anderson expected out the door, Alabama returns a team with significant question marks across the roster. Is Jalen Milroe good enough to be a title-winning quarterback? What offensive weapons can whoever is at quarterback rely on with tight end Cameron Latu and running back Jahmyr Gibbs, Young’s favorite targets, also likely gone? Who is calling the plays? Alabama’s coaching staff could badly use a shakeup as offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien and defensive coordinator Pete Golding aren’t capable of getting the job done to the level expected in Tuscaloosa.

Saban, who turned 71 on Halloween, will need to do some soul-searching on what went wrong this season and how he can fix it moving forward. With every “the dynasty is over” declaration that has cropped up over the years, Saban always finds a way to adjust and evolve to get back on top. He’s still capable of doing that, but his former protege won’t make it easy.

Smart took Saban’s playbook, added his own tweaks and built the same type of dominant organization he experienced in Tuscaloosa. Georgia, not Alabama, is now the program to be reckoned with in the SEC. Whether Saban can change that narrative or we look back and recognize this moment as the passing of the torch will be fascinating to watch.

Most pumped fanbase: LSU

It was easy to make fun of Brian Kelly this offseason for his weird pronunciation of “family” and those cringey dance moves to impress recruits. But the one thing that was always apparent was Kelly is a very good football coach. LSU has gotten better and better as the season progressed, culminating in Saturday’s upset win over Alabama. Kelly had never beaten the Tide, a rumored influence in his decision to leave Notre Dame for LSU, and that he accomplished that in Year 1 in Baton Rouge already makes it feel like the right decision for all involved.

Most panicked fanbase: Clemson

Clemson, another team that has looked flawed all season, met a similar fate to Alabama and was finally exposed on Saturday. The Tigers looked like a mess in a blowout loss to Notre Dame that head coach Dabo Swinney characterized as an “ass-kicking, period.” With a blemish now on its resume, Clemson’s playoff hopes took a major hit. Even worse, this feels like a program on the decline with Swinney feeling the effects of losing his top assistants in recent years.

Ranking top 5 Week 11 SEC games:

1) Alabama at Ole Miss (2:30 p.m.): This game lost luster after the Tide’s loss in Baton Rouge, but Lane Kiffin would still love to score a win off his former boss. Will Alabama’s road woes appear again?

2) Texas A&M at Auburn (6:30 p.m.): This game has the most potential to be unintentionally funny. Jimbo Fisher’s team arrives on a remarkable five-game losing streak and needs to win out just to make a bowl game. Meanwhile Auburn showed some real fire under interim coach Cadillac Williams in Mississippi and could steal this one at home.

3) South Carolina at Florida (3:00 p.m.): Two middle-of-the-pack SEC East teams that could use a win like this.

4) LSU at Arkansas (11:00 a.m.): The Tigers are riding high while the Razorbacks are coming off a loss to Hugh Freeze’s Liberty squad. Arkansas has flown a bit under the radar, but has an argument for one of the most disappointing teams in the SEC this season after big preseason expectations.

5) Georgia at Mississippi State (6:00 p.m.): The mark of great teams is whether they can still get up for games they know they should win. Georgia has been terrific in its big games but a bit lackluster against overmatched opponents.

John Talty is the sports editor and SEC Insider for Alabama Media Group. He is the bestselling author of “The Leadership Secrets of Nick Saban: How Alabama’s Coach Became the Greatest Ever.”