Photo via Tammy Anthony Baker.
The University of Georgia ended their 41-year title drought with a 33-18 win over Alabama in the college football national championship game in Indianapolis.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart defeated his old mentor Nick Saban in a defensive battle that hides beneath the final score. Georgia has been outstanding on defense all season long, with the lone crack in the armor being against Alabama in the SEC championship game.
The first touchdown in the game didn’t comex late in the third quarter. A Georgia rushing touchdown gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the game.
After answering with a field goal a controversial turnover gave Alabama the ball back in the red zone. It wasn’t long after that Heisman winner Bryce Young found the endzone to put Alabama back up 18-13.
Georgia walk-on quarterback Stetson “The Mailman” Bennett got his chance to answer back. A quick score put Georgia up by one after a failed two-point conversion, the Bulldogs never looked back from there.
With the win, Kirby Smart joined Jimbo Fisher as the only two former assistants of Nick Saban to beat him on the field, Saban is 25-2 in those games.
Since taking over the program, Georgia has been a national powerhouse, with strong teams always playing in Athens. There has seemingly always been that one thorn in the side of the Bulldogs, and that thorn’s name is the Alabama Crimson Tide.
The Tide had won the previous seven meetings between the two teams, winning just as recently as the SEC championship game back in December.
The loss dropped Georgia to number three in the playoff rankings, setting them up against Michigan.
Michigan, coming off of its best season in recent memory laid an egg in the semifinal game, with Georgia thumping them 34-11 with 8 of Michigan’s 11 points coming in the fourth quarter. This dominant win propelled the Bulldogs into the title game with some momentum after ending their regular season with a loss.
On the other side of the bracket, Alabama took care of Cincinnati to set up the rematch in the title game.
For the first time since the days of Herschel Walker, the Georgia Bulldogs sit on top of the college football world.
