Yes I said it. It is all Auburn's fault. Let me explain...
If it wasn't for Auburn ruffling the feathers of 1st Georgia and then Alabama, the turn out of the Nation Championship probably would be a lot different. Both teams along with a couple other random teams swapped places at the end of the season. Although both teams were playing good ball, both Georgia and Alabama appeared to lack purpose. Georgia looked like...Georgia, the team who could never win the big game, while Alabama looked as if they had fallen off of their dominate wagon. They seemed to be coasting through the season not having to face each other until predictably the SEC Championship. That was until Auburn arrived with a great surprise for both teams, two weeks in a row!
Why was this significant? Both teams were pretty much blinded due to the season being pretty much decided, and both were looking forward to one another. Also, the loses knocked both off of the #1 spot and threatened their FBS playoff chances. The loss placed Georgia in a lower seed with a potential to be completely removed if they loss the second time to Auburn in the SEC championship. And Alabama was a straw pull away from making it at all, with their fortunes depending on the performance of other teams. This created a reality and hunger like no other for both teams. They were basically sleep walking before, but now they are fully awake.
Georgia played with a fury in the SEC Championship, and had plenty left over for Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl. It is my opinion that if they didn't lose to Auburn during the season, they would't have had enough fire to defeat Oklahoma in the semi-finals. Then you have Alabama as an underdog against now #1 Clemson, on top of the fact that Clemson defeated them in the national championship last season. This created a serious chip on Alabama's shoulder. They lost last year to Clemson, lost to their state rival and lost their #1 rank...to Clemson, and they were expected to loss again. This was too much. They came out like a rabbit dog fighting for their lives. Their respect, reputation, and season was all on the line at once. This was a powerful formula that catapulted a seemingly modest Alabama team to the National Championship again.
Both teams are fired up. Two conference rivals playing basically at home, being only a few hours at most from their schools. This will be a game for the ages, with two teams playing their hearts out and having something to prove. However, I still believe that the experience plays in the favor of Alabama. That and the fact that Alabama has an intimidation factor and somewhat big brother relationship with Georgia, especially in big games such as this.