John Walters

Georgia’s march to a national championship just got tougher.

The most impressive team in the Peach State on Saturday was not the top-ranked Bulldogs, who went up 38-0 on Georgia Southern before coasting home for a 45-21 victory (sophomore Heisman candidate tailback Knowshon Moreno had just eight carries — and three touchdowns). No, the most impressive team was fellow Southeastern Conference member Alabama, who strutted into the Georgia Dome in Atlanta and wiped that top-10-ranking smirk right off Clemson’s face in an emphatic 34-10 victory.

Georgia, a preseason favorite amongst many experts, already had its doubters because of a schedule that included — and these are the games most everyone cited — trips to Arizona State, LSU and Auburn. That trio of tussles, plus the annual border battle with Florida, were enough to make most observers dubious about any team, even Georgia, emerging unscathed.

Now you can add Alabama, which visits Athens on Sept. 27, to Georgia coach Mark Richt's list of headaches. The Crimson Tide, one year removed from a 6-6 regular season in coach Nick Saban’s first year in Tuscaloosa, dominated No. 9 Clemson on Saturday night. The Tigers, preseason ACC favorites, failed to score an offensive touchdown.

The Tide owned the line of scrimmage from the opening snap. Clemson’s vaunted tailback tandem of James Davis and C.J. Spiller (alias “Thunder” and “Lightning”) rushed for a combined 20 yards on eight carries. Clemson’s longest run from scrimmage was an 8-yard carry by Spiller, and the Tigers finished with zero net rushing yards. In a game that took place yards from the CNN weather center, Thunder and Lightning failed to register on the doppler.

“It’s still early,” said Tide quarterback John Parker Wilson, who became Alabama’s all-time leading passer in terms of completions (500 and counting) on Saturday. “We’ve still got a long way to go. But we’ve got a good group of guys here who can do it.”

It had been nine years since Alabama visited the Georgia Dome. That is astounding not because the Atlanta stadium is located just 203 miles from the Capstone. Rather, it is incredible since the Georgia Dome hosts the annual SEC Championship game and Alabama, the most storied program in the South (Bear Bryant, Joe Namath, Forrest Gump, etc.), last appeared in that game in 1999.

The past two national champions (Florida, LSU) have emerged from the annual intramural brawl that is the SEC. Entering college football’s first weekend of play, many believed that at the very least an SEC program would play in the BCS championship game, with Georgia, Florida and Auburn — in that order — being the most likely candidates.

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Add Alabama to that list, as Saban, who has already won a national title this decade at an SEC school (LSU), is ahead of schedule. Saturday’s dismissal of Clemson surely caused reverberations in Athens, Auburn, Baton Rouge and Gainesville. The first true SEC showdown of the season will not be Oct. 11, when LSU visits Florida. The first will be two weeks earlier when Alabama rolls up between the hedges to face No. 1 Georgia. Both teams should be 4-0 on that date, although the Bulldogs could be tested at both South Carolina and Arizona State.

The current issue of Forbes magazine includes a cover story on Saban in which the current steward of Tide talent is hailed as “Sports’ Most Powerful Coach.” Saban dismissed that tag, countering that he is not even the most powerful member of his own household. But for one of college football’s most revered programs, one that has already this decade hired a coach who was the wrong Price (Mike), Saban’s 8-year, $32 million deal appears to be the right price.

ACC-sick
Clemson, the ACC’s lone preseason top 10 team, was humbled by No. 24 Alabama. Virginia Tech, the conference’s other top-20 program, lost to non-BCS member East Carolina, 27-22 — although the Pirates appear to be a burgeoning East coast version of Boise State, the program they beat in last December’s Hawaii Bowl. And Virginia looked like the Cav-nots in a 52-7 home loss to USC.

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The Atlantic Coast Conference is reeling, and that is not exactly news. Neither Florida State nor Miami appeared in the AP preseason top 25 this season, the first time that has happened since 1977. Only No. 23 Wake Forest salvaged some honor this weekend with a 41-13 win at Baylor.

All of which makes next Saturday, when Miami visits Florida, more meaningful. The Hurricanes looked impressive in a 52-7 win against Charleston Southern, but Tim Tebow & Co. will be a quantum leap up from Tribble Reese (that’s the name of the Charleson Southern quarterback) and the Buccaneers. The Canes had no trouble with Tribble.

The Gators, who had 11 different players rush the ball in what can be called an economic 56-10 win against Hawaii, will provide a much sterner test. Last season Randy Shannon’s team visited Oklahoma in the season’s second week and lost 51-13. How far have the Hurricanes come since then and is anyone in the ACC worthy of top 20 status? We will find out next week in Gainesville.

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