No one knows the inside story of Alabama vs. Georgia better than Scott Cochran.
If Georgia vs. Alabama has developed into a full-on rivalry game, then it was Cochran who engineered the feud and injected the venom.
No.4 Alabama (3-0) takes on No.2 Georgia (3-0) at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium. It’s the biggest game nationally through the first five weeks of the season, and, throughout all of college football, there is no one who understands the psychology of big-time games more intimately than eight-time national champ Cochran.
Cochran began his career as a college football coach with Nick Saban at LSU. Most famously, he was the strength and conditioning coach at Alabama from 2007 to 2019. In a move that shook up the SEC, Cochran then left Alabama to be a coordinator at Georgia from 2020 to 2023.
It was Cochran’s job to make Alabama vs. Georgia a rivalry. He knows both sides. He knows how to get inside the heads of players. In 2008, he proclaimed that Georgia was wearing black jerseys because they were going to their own “[expletive] funeral.” The game has been a spectacle ever since.
Cochran’s personal record in games between Alabama and Georgia is 6-4. That’s why I went to Cochran this week about what to name the rivalry game between the two teams he helped to become the best in college football.
Now retired from coaching and running a non-profit that helps people overcome alcohol and drug addiction, Cochran had a hand in eight national championships throughout his legendary career. No question about it, Cochran should be in the College Football Hall of Fame. His insights into Georgia vs. Alabama and the SEC at large are unmatched.
Alabama and Auburn have the Iron Bowl. Georgia and Auburn have the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry. What name should be given to Alabama vs. Georgia? Cochran has the answer.
“It’s the Battle for the SEC,” Cochran said. “It was always us (Alabama) and LSU for the West. Now that there are no divisions, it’s the Battle for the SEC.
“Who’s the king of the SEC?”
In this new era of college football, the SEC is more competitive top to bottom than perhaps ever before. Vanderbilt, for example, almost upset then-No.7 Missouri last week. Going into Week 5, there are six teams in the SEC ranked among the top 11 in the country. They are No.1 Texas, No.2 Georgia, No.4 Alabama, No.5 Tennessee, No.6 Ole Miss and No.11 Missouri.
