Kirby Smart brings a team modeled in Nick Saban’s image to Tuscaloosa, only Saban is no longer on the opposite sideline.

Smart won four national championships as Alabama’s defensive coordinator under Saban before taking over as head coach at Georgia in 2016. With the Bulldogs, he’s built a program very similar to the one he helped Saban put together more than a decade ago.

Smart has won two SEC championships and a pair of national titles at Georgia, though the one team he’s never been consistently able to beat in the last 10 years is Alabama. Smart is 1-5 vs. the Crimson Tide, including a loss in last year’s SEC championship game that derailed the Bulldogs’ attempt at a third straight national title.

But Saban is no longer coaching, likely to be secure in a luxury box in the sky at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday night. Kalen DeBoer has taken over and Alabama has not yet missed a beat, bringing a 3-0 record and a No. 4 national ranking into Saturday night’s nationally televised showdown in T-town.

Georgia is also 3-0 and ranked No. 2, and like Alabama spent last week on a bye preparing for arguably the most-anticipated game of the 2024 season so far. ESPN’s College GameDay crew, legendary Alabama quarterback Joe Namath and even former president Donald Trump will be among those on-hand to witness all the action and excitement.

To set the scene, AL.com has put together this video essay, written and narrated by Nick Kelly and produced by Clay Yeager. You can watch it at the YouTube link above.