ATHENS — Mark Richt knows how violent the football action will be when Georgia and Alabama clash Saturday night at Sanford Stadium

“It’s two monsters in the Southeast,” Richt told DawgNation during his appearance on the ‘On the Beat’ podcast.

“Georgia-Alabama, it doesn’t get any bigger than that.”

College Football Playoff implications and SEC supremacy will be on the line at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday when the teams meet at Sanford Stadium, UGA bringing a school-record 33-game home win streak into the matchup.

To Richt’s point on relevancy, the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide have combined to win 10 of the past 11 SEC championships, including the last five.

Richt went 3-3 against Alabama during his tenure as Georgia’s head coach, winning his first three matchups with the Crimson Tide before Nick Saban and his then-defensive coordinator — Kirby Smart — settled in to win the last three meetings.

Richt said there was one trait that carried over from each of the Georgia-Alabama games he coached in.

“When you play those guys, it’s so meaningful, just from a manhood type of point of view,” Richt said. “You know it’s a man’s game, it’s going to be physical, you can imagine, so those players know they have to bring their A game.

“It’s going to be a physical fight, so over the years we’ve had some wins and some losses, but it’s always a privilege to be in that type of game.”

Georgia was on the wrong end of the fight the last time the teams met in Athens, as the Crimson Tide served notice of what was to come of their season with a 38-10 win en route to a national championship season with Lane Kiffin as offensive coordinator and Smart calling the defensive plays.

Derrick Henry’s powerful running style was on display, as he rumbled for 148 yards and an early go-ahead touchdown against Georgia in his Heisman Trophy-winning season.

Smart’s defense all but sealed the win early in the third quarter when Eddie Jackson returned a Brice Ramsey interception 50 yards for a touchdown to put Alabama up 31-3.

It was one of four Georgia turnovers on the day, and the Tide also blocked a punt for a touchdown.

It was a pivotal loss for the Bulldogs, as they went on to lose two of their next three games, falling at Tennessee 38-31 and in Jacksonville against Florida, 27-3.

Richt closed out the season with five wins, including a 24-17 Taxpayer bowl win over Penn State, but he was replaced by Smart as UGA’s head coach after the season.

To see the coaches sharing the stage with warm smiles on Monday — Smart in full support of Richt’s third annual Chick-fil-A Dawg Bowl charity fundraising event for Parkinson’s and Crohn’s, warmed hearts.

Richt, however, was breaking hearts in Tuscaloosa years earlier on the front-end of his 15 years coaching the Bulldogs, as he went 2-0 in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Georgia’s most recent win in Tuscaloosa came under Richt in 2007, when NFL Super Bowl champion Matthew Stafford welcomed Saban into the SEC with a 26-23 overtime win.

“I think we ran I-left, Y-return, 142 double-go, and I threw a touchdown to Mikey Henderson in the back left of the end zone. It was a go ball,” Stafford said when reflecting on the game in a 2020 interview.

“I remember it was a great catch by him. I remember celebrating like crazy after that one.”

The 2007 Bulldogs had championship potential, certainly, in this era of a 12-team playoff field. Stafford ran through the season with a 10-2 mark before leading a dominant 41-10 Sugar Bowl win over Hawaii that led to a No. 2 final ranking.

Richt’s only win over the Tide in the three games he faced Alabama in Athens came in 2003, when the Bulldogs put up 31 points in the second quarter en route to a 37-23 win over a Mike Shula-coached Alabama team.

It was Richt’s second-straight win over Shula. In 2002, Musa Smith pounded Alabama for 126 yards rushing in Tuscaloosa and Billy Bennett kicked a 32-yard field goal with 38 seconds left to lift the Bulldogs to the 27-25 win en route to a 13-1 season capped by a 26-13 Sugar Bowl win over Florida State.

Georgia-Alabama series

(BCS Era)

Kirby Smart (1-6)

2024: Alabama 41, Georgia 34 (Tuscaloosa)

2023: Alabama 27, Georgia 24 (SEC Championship)

2022: Georgia 33, Alabama 18 (CFP Championship)

2021: Alabama 41, Georgia 24 (SEC Championship)

2020: Alabama 41, Georgia 24 (Tuscaloosa)

2018: Alabama 35, Georgia 28 (SEC Championship)

2018: Alabama 26, Georgia 23 (OT, CFP Championship)

Mark Richt (3-3)

2015: Alabama 38, Georgia 10 (Athens)

2012: Alabama 32, Georgia 28 (SEC Championship)

2008: Alabama 41, Georgia 30 (Athens)

2007: Georgia 26, Alabama 23 (Tuscaloosa)

2003: Georgia 37, Alabama 23 (Athens)

2002: Georgia 27, Alabama 25 (Tuscaloosa)