Town Square: Rival-ready Georgia Bulldogs eclipsed their traditional nemeses

Opinion Editor Adam Van Brimmer blogs on local topics of interest most weekday mornings in the “Savannah’s Town Square” Facebook group. The following is an excerpt from one of those posts. Join the group at Facebook.com by searching for "Savannah's Town Square."

A common refrain you hear from Ohio State fans over the last two decades in reference to their team's rivalry with Michigan is "a hammer and a nail can't be rivals."

Georgia fans are increasingly feeling that way.

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The Bulldogs are clearly superior to all their traditional rivals, and the gap is growing. Tennessee and South Carolina can't touch the Dogs anymore. Georgia Tech might as well be in a different classification. Now, Auburn and Florida are declining just as Georgia is ascending.

The trend is a double-edged one. Dominating your rivals is delightful - ask the Buckeye faithful, whose team has won 17 of 19 against Michigan and has also owned Penn State over the last half-decade.

The catch is this: a team that faces little (or no) challenge over a long period of time (like an entire season) loses its edge. Georgia will go into the Southeastern Conference championship game very proven but entirely untested.

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Fortunately for Dog fans, they get a mulligan and will make the college football playoff even if they lose the SEC title.

The morale of this story is not to celebrate the demise of one's rivals - at least not too much. Georgia needs Florida and at least one other rival to be good. That or a conference realignment that brings an Alabama or Oklahoma onto their schedule annually.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia Bulldogs football dominance has left them without rivals and untested