Column: Georgia already in rarified territory, with a shot to be the best ever

ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia Bulldogs are already in rarified territory.

With three more victories, they’ll have every right to call themselves the greatest team in college football history.

The top-ranked Bulldogs haven’t lost a game in 727 days.

On Saturday, they’ll go for their 30th win in a row against Nick Saban and No. 8 Alabama in the Southeastern Conference championship game.

While coach Kirby Smart insists that his two-time reigning national champs keep their feet planted very firmly in the present, it’s impossible not to reflect just a bit on Georgia’s stunning perfection over the last two years.

“I definitely do just take some time to just try and sit back and appreciate it,” defensive back Kamari Lassiter said this week. “It’s hard to sometimes just take a second and just slow down when games are coming at you so fast, with practices and all the media and everything flying around.

“But sometimes,” he added, “just being able to sit down and think for myself personally over the last few years that I’ve been able to be a part of a really good program and a program that’s taught me a lot of things, not just about football but about life.”

Georgia is trying to become just the ninth major program in college football history to win as many as 30 consecutive games. It’s certainly never been tougher to put together such a run in this era of increased parity, longer seasons, expanded playoffs and supersized conferences, not to mention having to navigate the transfer portal and NIL.

Making the streak even more impressive, Smart’s Bulldogs have done it while playing in the SEC — the best conference in the land.

“It’s phenomenal what he’s been able to accomplish at Georgia,” said Alabama coach Nick Saban, Smart’s former boss and now chief rival. “I mean, to win as many games in a row, win a couple championships, have another chance to do it again a third time, I mean, that’s phenomenal.”

No team in The Associated Press poll era — which dates back to 1936 — has managed to claim three straight national championships. If the Bulldogs can complete the threepeat, they would have a pretty compelling argument that no program has ever done it better.

But, before we get