Georgia plays You Know Who in the College Football National Championship Big Kerfuffle Monday night in Indianapolis, and let’s get into it, because even though You Know Who is in this game more or less every year, and Georgia already played and lost to them a month ago, this SEC rematch for everything could get interesting.

That’s right! I said an interesting college football game, something you didn’t think was possible after watching two agonizingly somnolent semifinals between Georgia and Michigan and Cincinnati and You...

Georgia plays You Know Who in the College Football National Championship Big Kerfuffle Monday night in Indianapolis, and let’s get into it, because even though You Know Who is in this game more or less every year, and Georgia already played and lost to them a month ago, this SEC rematch for everything could get interesting.

That’s right! I said an interesting college football game, something you didn’t think was possible after watching two agonizingly somnolent semifinals between Georgia and Michigan and Cincinnati and You Know Who. I would rather stare at a blank wall until April than watch either one of those dullsville games again. I would rather go on a hike, anywhere, and I am not hiking material. 

But Georgia vs. You Know Who could be worth staying up for. I’m not guaranteeing anything—don’t come yelling at me when it’s 21-3, or 37-9, or 180-20 or something—but there’s reason to think it’s going to be more competitive this time around.

You Know Who, of course, is Alabama, which really does have a residency in this contest. Since the College Football Playoff was launched for the 2014 season, head coach Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide have made the final six out of eight times. I’ll say it for you: that’s crazy. If they decided to re-christen this game as the Nick Saban Football Invitational…honestly, why isn’t this game called the Nick Saban Football Invitational? Or at least the College Football National Championship Big Kerfuffle Presented by Nick Saban?

This year’s Alabama team began as the preseason No. 1, but an early October loss to Texas A&M and a narrow escape versus Auburn in the Iron Bowl had them looking vulnerable. The 41-24 SEC title game rout of Georgia and the 27-6 thump of Cincinnati has corrected the wheel, and the Tide will be more than ready for the bright spotlight Monday because, well, they live there. They have the reigning Heisman winner in sophomore quarterback Bryce Young, and more than a few players you’ll watch soon on NFL Sundays. They’re Alabama. What do you expect?

Georgia, depending on whom you talk to, is A) revenge-minded and ready for glory or B) jinxed by repeated failures against Bama and will never crawl over the hump. Here’s hoping it’s much closer to A. Led by a dynamic defense, the Bulldogs spent much of the season atop the rankings until that long night in the SEC final. Versus Michigan, they looked like themselves—quarterback Stetson Bennett repeatedly burned the Wolverines with deep passes and the swarming defense relocated its invincible sheen. These Dawgs were hyper-motivated to get Bama again, and they have.

Yes: Georgia’s got some rough recent history against the Tide, including a painful 26-23 overtime loss in the 2018 national championship. Head coach Kirby Smart, a former Alabama assistant, hasn’t beaten Saban in four tries. Really, though, who doesn’t have a wobbly history versus Saban? Georgia is committed to reversing the trend. Smart even declined the obligatory Gatorade shower after the semifinal win, which was more of a signal of his seriousness than an aversion to bathing in sticky performance drink. 

College football is in a strange space. It remains a cultural behemoth, but it’s finally shedding its pretense about amateurism, and putting its mitts around its core purpose, which is generating money. Name-image-likeness reform, players liberated to transfer without repercussion—the sport is finally catching up with long-denied reality, as is its audience. In the past, you might have wondered why this game is at 8 p.m. ET on a Monday. In the era of $8 million a year coaching salaries, you know it’s designed to maximize eyeballs and revenue in a prime-time, non-NFL, non-weekend hour. 

Georgia coach Kirby Smart is 0-4 against Alabama coach Nick Saban.

Photo: Joshua L. Jones/Associated Press

But it’s still wrestling with its product. The playoff has increased worry about the slate of remaining bowl games—that in creating a high-stakes invitational for the best four teams, the sport has diminished the relevance and interest in events like the Cheez-It Bowl and the Sourdough Bread Bowl Presented by Mike’s House of Mufflers, the second of which isn’t a real bowl, but really could be. There’s worry about participation, as a small number of college players, concerned about getting hurt in a meaningless showcase, have dared to opt out of games, choosing instead to prepare for the NFL draft. 

The other day, a pair of ESPN analysts went viral for suggesting that the players were the problem, that they just didn’t care as much as prior generations. Left undiscussed was the network’s heavy investment in the playoff and bowl season, not to mention the high-stakes industrial complex surrounding the NFL combine and draft. This subject is far larger than players. It was like watching employees at Netflix complain that nobody is bothering to rent VHS tapes anymore.

The answer, we’re led to believe, is more playoffs—increasing the Nick Saban Football Invitational from four teams to possibly 12, which would widen the field and theoretically boost intrigue. The problem is that the four-team playoff, further evidenced by the Alabama/Cincinnati and UGA/Michigan routs, hasn’t been riveting theater. Did anyone get through that New Year’s Eve slate and think: More of that blah, please! College football’s problem isn’t motivation, it’s competitiveness, and dominance, and it’s only a matter of time before government regulators are trying to break up Bama. 

But first: Monday. 

Saban is a legend among us, the center of the college football universe, and yet still somehow it’s all taken a little bit for granted. Georgia, which hasn’t won any version of the national title since 1980, is a worthy opponent: grumpy and desperate for a breakthrough. This contest has name brands, stakes and history. Now let’s see if it’s a game. 

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

What is your prediction for Georgia vs. You Know Who?

Write to Jason Gay at Jason.Gay@wsj.com