The college football season begins with spring football every April, and proceeds through summer weight room sessions, late-summer two-a-days, and then a grueling regular season. It all culminates later today, with the NCAA Football Championship Game between #3 Georgia and #4 Alabama.  Those two teams advanced to the final game after beating better-seeded teams on New Year’s Day, a result that now pits two SEC teams against one another for all the marbles.

Unanimous AI brought together a swarm of college football fans to examine tonight’s championship and predict its outcome. The CFB Swarm is hardly flying blind on this game; although the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs will meet for the first time this season tonight, they’ve had some common foes (most notably Auburn), and those contests — along with both teams’ performances in last week’s playoff games – may help guide the swarm’s assessment of this matchup.

At the start of the Swarm AI session, the group was asked to provide some insight into what kind of a game they expected across a number of different factors. As you can see in the replay above, for example, the swarm thinks that this game will be something of a lower-scoring defensive struggle. And although the group of fans likes Jalen Hurts’ versatility and experience at quarterback and favors the Tide defense generally, they also seem to be believers in Georgia’s formidable running game. In fact, when asked to cite the biggest factor in tonight’s game, the swarm’s answer is very intriguing.

This answer suggests that Georgia’s best chance to keep things close – if not win outright – might rest on the ability of its one-two running back punch of Nick Chubb and Sony Michel to push Alabama’s injury-depleted linebackers around. The question of whether the Bulldogs can move the ball consistently may tell the tale of this year’s championship.

For outright predictions, the swarm considered not only the outcome between the two teams, but also some of the more popular prop bets available from various sports books. When looking at the over/under number of 45, the swarm stayed true to its initial feelings of a defensive matchup with a mildly confident expression that this game will come in under that par.

For the game itself, the swarm sees a close game. The swarm is consistent in thinking both ‘Bama and Georgia will be under their individual over/under pars, a result they believe will favor the Crimson Tide. Perhaps it’s a belief that Alabama’s players will be used to the high-pressure of a national championship setting, or perhaps it’s a belief in Tide coach Nick Saban, but whatever the reason, the swarm favors Alabama, as you can see in the replay below.

There are reasons to proceed very cautiously here, as this prediction is one that looks like one made with very slight confidence. As that replay shows, the swarm takes the puck to a low-confidence pick.  The question starts with a fairly even split with a slight Alabama advantage, before we see some change of heart by enough Georgia magnets to bring the puck across the hex to the Alabama side of the hex.

The end result of all our predictions, charted below, is that tonight’s game has the makings of a nail-biter. It appears to be the sort of game that could be very difficult to bet confidently, and one which no one should bet heavily. Rather, if this contest comes in the way the swarm predicts, this will be a close game worth enjoying on its own merits.

Every week, Unanimous AI forms swarms of enthusiasts and fans to make predictions in the NFL, NBA, NHL, EPL, MLB and more. If you’d like to join us and take your chance at the weekly prize, or just have the picks emailed to you, follow the link below…

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