How 'Bout Them National Champion Dawgs!

Georgia Bulldog quarterback Stetson Bennett IV kisses the National Championship trophy as Dawg defensive tackle Jordan Davis looks on.  Georgia beat Alabama 33 - 18 to win the national title for the first time since 1980. Davis had the opportunity to go pro last season but chose instead to return for his senior year.  He had some “unfinished business” he wanted to help take care of.  Mission accomplished Jordan!

 

It was near the end of the fourth quarter and Coach Kirby Smart was pacing the sidelines.  He wasn't watching the game.  Instead, his focus was off the field.  Leading 34-11 in the Orange Bowl against No. 2 Michigan he was screaming at his players, assistants, and staff that he did not want to be dunked with the traditional post-victory Gatorade bath.  This victory was necessary but it was not the victory.  There was one more game to play.  He demanded everyone stay focused.  There was nothing to celebrate yet.    

Kirby was right.  The Georgia Bulldogs were going back to the National Championship game.  Everyone knew their opponent would be (as in January 2018) their ultimate nemesis, Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide.  As I blogged previously, the Dawgs were whipped by Saban's excellent team and Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Bryce Young in the SEC Championship game just a couple of weeks earlier.  Beating Michigan (a program with more total wins than any other in college football) was certainly big but there was truly nothing to celebrate yet.  The standard for Georgia was to aim higher and Kirby Smart wanted to make that clear.

Alabama was ranked No. 3 going into the SEC Championship game.  The game was a must-win situation for them if they wanted to make a bid for the National Championship.  Georgia was undefeated at No. 1 in the country.  But Alabama was 15 – 0 in games they played in Atlanta since losing back in 2008 to the Florida Gators (who went on to win the National Championship).  Beating Georgia made that 16 – 0.

But this National Championship game would be played in Indianapolis, not Atlanta.  So maybe the curse would be lifted and the Dawgs and Kirby Smart would finally defeat Nick Saban and the Tide.  Maybe the Georgia defense would find a way to pressure and sack Bryce Young.  Maybe the Dawgs offensive line would dominate the Bama defensive line.  Maybe Alabama would turn the ball over.  We needed a lot of things to go right for us.

That's not what happened back in December, but I hoped that Kirby would figure things out.  The Georgia players had to play up to their outstanding potential against their arch rival on the biggest stage on college football.  Of course, hope is not a strategy.  The Crimson Tide would be concentrating on executing plays, not hope.
 

A win, of course, would earn us our first National Championship since 1980, when I was a student at UGA.  How sweet it would be!  To have my Atlanta Braves win the World Series and my Georgia Bulldogs win the National Championship in the same seasons would easily make 2021 the greatest year of my lifetime as a sports fan. But I also knew that Kirby was 0 – 4 in Georgia vs. Alabama match-ups against Saban.  Didn't we have to win sometime?

As one friend put it before the game: “It's not a rivalry if you never win.”  That summed it all up succinctly for me as a Georgia fan.

I was ready at kick-off, armed with pistachios, beer and a Georgia toboggan that Avery gave me for Christmas.  Despite everything, I could not shake the vision of Tua Tagovailoa throwing that winning touchdown on 2nd and 26 in overtime of the 2018 game.  Oh god, don't let us blow this one.  Don't let Alabama rise to seemingly miraculous gods against us once more.  Don't let our hearts be crushed – again – by the Crimson Tide.  I could not figure out if I believed more in Georgia's potential or in Alabama's knack for winning the big game.  Surely Nick Saban would have to lose sometime when it all counted.  Surely.  (Don't call me Shirley.)

Well, the true Georgia defense showed up for this game.  We were pressuring Bryce Young throughout the first half.  The talented Bama quarterback often made rushed throws or scrambled for his life.  Georgia walk-on quarterback Stetson Bennett started out shaky but managed to connect on several key passes including a great one for 52 yards to George Pickens.  But it wasn't enough in this tight defensive struggle which saw Alabama leading 9 – 6 on nothing but field goals by halftime.  Neither side was able to find the end zone.

I was encouraged by what I saw but, nevertheless, Alabama was on top.  Both sides were struggling somewhat.  Georgia's challenges weighed heavily on me.  The thought raged in my anxious mind that no matter how well we played the Tide would find a way to out-play us.  I could not shake the feeling that this would not turn out well.  Georgia fans had been burned too many times by Saban and his excellent teams.

Most of the third quarter was the same story. Both defenses played superb football. Neither offense could finish off a drive. Georgia punted twice and was unable to capitalize on a rare interception thrown by Young. Then Georgia blocked a field goal attempt by Bama. The two teams were locked in a classic defensive struggle.

Then Georgia running back James Cook burst through the Tide defense for a 67-yard run that set up the first touchdown of the game. Suddenly, Georgia had momentum and a 13 - 9 lead. For the first time in the game, it felt like we might have more than hope to work with this time.

But Alabama answered.  They came thundering back down the field only to be stopped at the Georgia 3 yard line. This might have been the turning point in the game.  Bama settled for their fourth field goal early in the fourth quarter. It was 13 – 12 with the Dawgs on top when Bennett was sacked by the tenacious Tide pass rush. It looked (to me) like Bennett managed to pass the ball but, instead, the play was ruled a fumble at the Georgia 16.

Bama soon scored a touchdown (it would be their only one of the game). A two-point conversion attempt failed so Saban and company clung to an 18 – 13 lead with 10:14 remaining in the game.  Oh god.  I could feel it all slipping away once more.  Fortunately, I didn't have to live with that feeling for long.  Two minutes later Bennett connected with Adonai Mitchell for a huge 40-yard TD pass.  Our two-point conversion attempt failed.

19 – 18 Dawgs with 8 minutes to go.  This was the type of back and forth everyone dreams of in title football games but I didn't care for it.  I wanted something definitive in our favor to happen.  It was all too close for me.  I feared that, even though the Dawgs defense kept him under pressure, Young would find an open receiver or a Bama running back would break free and drive a stack through our hearts one more time.

But that's not what happened.  Georgia's defense stiffened.  Alabama ran for minus 2 yards and, after two incomplete passes, punted the ball back to us.  That's what we needed.  A three and out possession.  The Dawgs used the running power of Zamir White to eat up yardage and took advantage of an Alabama pass interference call to get the ball down to the Bama 15 yard line with only 3:33 left to play.  That's when Bennett found Georgia's incredible freshman tight end Brock Bowers for a 15-yard touchdown.  

But that 26 – 18 lead didn't feel comfortable.  Young still had plenty of time to tie the ballgame.  Bam bam bam bam.  Four passes and the Tide were driving again into Georgia territory.  I could see the game ending tied and Georgia losing to Alabama all over again in overtime.  Oh no, please.  But the Dawgs kept the pressure on Young, who threw two incomplete passes before – oh my god YES! -  Kalee Ringo intercepted a frantic pass by Young for a 79-yard touchdown!

The pick six, as they say, put the Dawgs on top 33 - 18.  To paraphrase the late great Larry Munson, we knocked 'em down and kicked them in the face with a hobnail boot.  The game was closer than the score would indicate.  But in the end Alabama did not break our hearts, we broke theirs.  For the first time in 41 years the Georgia Bulldogs are national champions!  How sweet it is!

Stetson Bennett did not throw an interception while Bryce Young threw two (he only had five previously all season).  Bennett had a rough start but recovered, did not panic, and silenced his critics (he was not top-shelf talent, they said) by winning the biggest game on the biggest stage.  He threw for two TD's in what was a very tough defensive struggle until the final 10 minutes of the game.

Kirby Smart and Nick Saban shook hands at mid-field after the game.  It was the first time one of Nick's former Alabama assistants had beaten their remarkable mentor, the greatest coach in college football history.  Saban was a gentleman and showed his outstanding character in a way that winning never allows.  It is so easy to be gracious when you win but when you lose...Saban told Kirby: “You kicked our ass in the fourth quarter.  Congrats.”

A credit to Georgia's defense, Alabama only had 30 yards rushing in the game.  Young was sacked four times (Bennett was taken down five) but still managed 369 total passing yards, which actually gave Alabama more total offensive yardage (399) than Georgia (364). [See ESPN highlight videos of the game here.] 

My mind went back to the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth.  Alabama had driven the ball down the Georgia 3-yard line but could not punch it in.  The Dawgs defense held and forced a field goal.  At the time, that made the ballgame 13 – 12 Georgia when a touchdown would have made it 16 – 13 Alabama.  Who knows what happens after that.

But I don't care.  That sort of what-if thinking is where I used to find solace when we always lost to Alabama.  Today Georgia fans have crossed over the mountain top and we are celebrating in the promised land.  We are the greatest college football team in the country.  My two lifelong favorite teams (the Braves and the Dawgs) are BOTH champions.  What a wonderful finish to the greatest sports season I have ever known as a fan!

I asked my friend if Georgia-Alabama was a legit rivalry now.  He shook his head.  "I'd like to win a few more first."  Yeah, cheers to that.  How 'bout them national champions!  Oh lordy, has it really been 41 years?!  Let's not let so much time fade away before we win the next one Kirby.