Column: Georgia wipes away 41 years of frustration

Updated Jan. 11, 2022 1:07 a.m. ET

Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — After 41 agonizing years, the Georgia Bulldogs were not about to let another championship slip through their fingers.

Not even after

The gritty Bulldogs and their undersized quarterback, the former walk-on known as “The Mailman,” finally delivered a national championship to the red-and-black faithful.

The fact that they did it against Nick Saban and the mighty Crimson Tide, the team that had dished out so much heartache to the Dawgs, only made the triumph that much sweeter.

— a deceiving score for a game that was an ugly, old-school battle of field goals for nearly three quarters.

Alabama led 9-6 until Zamir White scored the first touchdown of the night on a 1-yard run, sending the Bulldogs to the final period up 13-9.

After Bama's fourth field goal made it a one-point game, the Tide caught a huge break.

It was the sort of play that snake-bit Georgia had come to expect over the years, as every attempt to win its first national title since 1980 was turned away.

Under heavy pressure, Stetson Bennett tried to throw the ball away. But it appeared to slip from his right hand a split-second before his arm came forward, making it a fumble.

Everyone in the stadium thought it was an incomplete pass, even the Alabama player who nonchalantly collected the wobbler in his arms just before he stepped out of bounds along the sideline.

But the officials ruled it a fumble, and their was call upheld after a lengthy video review.

The Tide quickly punched it in for their first touchdown of the game. Just like that, Alabama was back in front 18-13, and every Georgia fan — from Indianapolis all the way back to the Peach State — was surely envisioning how they'd be moaning about that crazy play over stiff drinks in the days, weeks and years to come.

Only, these Bulldogs wrote a different ending.

This time, it's champagne all around!

“I tell you what, there's gonna be some property torn up in Indianapolis tonight,” coach Kirby Smart screamed after

That wasn't the only gesture tying together all the years since Georgia's last national title.

Smart embraced 89-year-old Vince Dooley, the coach of that previous title team, who had only recently recovered from a bout with COVID-19 before making the trek to Indianapolis.

They're both championship coaches now.

Smart earned his trophy with a dominant defense — which bounced back resoundingly from a 41-24 beating delivered by Alabama in the Southeastern Conference championship game — and a much-debated decision to stick with Bennett as his quarterback instead of the more heralded JT Daniels.

Bennett, who originally walked on at Georgia and even spent a year playing at a junior college, justified Smart's faith after his big mistake.

“Our defense played such a great game,” Bennett said. “I wasn't going to be the reason we lost the game.”

With fire in his eyes, Bennett needed just four plays and a pass interference penalty to guide the Bulldogs on a touchdown drive that will be remembered as long as games are played between the hedges in Athens, Georgia.

The capper was

That drive, that score, seemed to lift the cloud that has hovered over this program since its only consensus national title.

When Georgia got the ball back again, Bennett extended the lead with

And, finally, with Alabama and its Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback, Bryce Young, trying to muster a drive that could force overtime,

After watching five other SEC schools win a total of 15 national titles since its last championship — seven of them by Alabama, including a couple at Georgia's direct expense — the Bulldogs are back on top.

“I told our guys, ‘The only way you’re getting home is through them,'” Smart said, referring to Saban, his former boss, and the Tide. “And they did it.”

It took far longer than anyone would have expected back in 1980.

That only made it sweeter.

Bennett wiped away the first tears he's shed in as long as he can remember.

“I can't describe it,” he said. “I have no words.”

Bennett glanced around the stadium.

“These are the greatest fans in the world,” he said. “This is the greatest team in the world.”

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Paul Newberry is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at pnewberry(at)ap.org or at https://twitter.com/pnewberry1963 and check out his work at https://apnews.com/search/paulnewberry

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