More on Georgia's first full day as the national champions of the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision
Four decades of pent-up emotion were unleashed Monday night as the Bulldogs snapped a frustrating national championship drought by vanquishing their nemesis.
Stetson Bennett delivered the biggest throws of his storybook career and Georgiaās defense sealed the sweetest victory in program history, beating Alabama 33-18 in the College Football Playoff for its first title in 41 years.
Beating Bama makes it more special
In some ways, it doesnāt matter who Georgiaās National Championship victory came against. No feeling is going to top having confetti dumped on you as youāre the last team celebrating the season.
But for Georgia, there was added significance that the win came against Alabama. That it was the team that beat Georgia in rather embarrassing fashion just over a month ago. That it was an Alabama program that had beaten Georgia seven straight times.
Per Nick Saban, Georgia ākicked our a** in the fourth quarter.ā When you can do that against that program, it certainly adds to what is already one of the best nights in program history.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart celebrated hard into the morning hours, but by Tuesday morning, he was already working on the Bulldogsā next championship run.
āItās right now, weāll have multiple kids go into the portal that weāve had discussions with, that held off out of respect for the team,ā Smart said at the CFP Championship press conference, hours after the Bulldogs beat Alabama by a 33-18 count in Lucas Oil Stadium.
āSoon as he caught it, I just teared upā
After Bennett's turnover in the third quarter, he said he "wasn't going to be the reason we lost."
"Just knew there was going to be no way to let a TO like that stop us from winning a national championship," he said. "I wasnāt going to let that happen."
Seniors came back, and came up big and clutch
James Cook and Zamir White split carries throughout their entire career. Jordan Davis ceded pass-rushing snaps to the younger Jalen Carter. Jamaree Salyer had to move from left tackle to right guard during the national championship game.
All four players elected to come back to Georgia for the 2021 season, bypassing the NFL draft. They all likely wouldāve been picked last season. Instead, the group, along with a number of other veteran players on the Georgia team elected to come back to Georgia to try and leave their mark, temporarily passing on an NFL paycheck.
Those sacrifices were validated on Monday night with a 33-18 victory over Alabama. The win gave Georgia its first national championship since 1980.
The gritty Bulldogs and their undersized quarterback, the former walk-on known as āThe Mailman,ā 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 one heartache after another to the Dawgs, only made the triumph that much sweeter.
And on top of the Atlanta Braves winning a World Series? Suddenly, a city and state that has known so much sporting misery can call itself Winnersville, U.S.A.
Let the party begin!
Georgia beat Alabama the Alabama way
ā... there was nothing cheap about this championship, or the Bulldogs' entire season: Georgia's first title under coach Kirby Smart looks deeply similar to those early Alabama teams under Saban, perhaps signaling the start of the next dynasty to take over the SEC and the entire Football Bowl Subdivision.ā
An overlooked walk-on walks off a champion
When the moment finally arrived to give Georgia its first national title in 41 seasons, it arrived only after this Georgia team stared down its demons, teased another torturous chapter and spent the fourth quarter against Alabama on Monday night toggling the thin line between history and infamy.
In the end, 5-foot-11 senior quarterback Stetson Bennett got the ending right ā for the game, for a career that began as a walk-on with a half locker and for the fairy tale that will be remembered as a signature moment in school history.
Carter did it all, including scaring Smart
āI took him off kickoff returns. I wanted to be fresh rush passer and he was pissed at me. I thought he was going to beat me up over there when I told him he couldnāt go on kickoff return, because he wanted to go on kickoff return.ā
Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett may have said it best just past midnight, a few minutes after No. 3 Georgia knocked off No. 1 Alabama, 33-18, on Monday night to win the 2021 College Football Playoff national championship.
During his TV interview on the field inside Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Bennett, looking more than a little overwhelmed at what the Bulldogs had just done, said: "Good Lord. Wow."
That about sums it up, right?
Bennett shows the Bulldog mentality
Telling an athlete to have a short memory, to forget that godawful last play or that embarrassing last loss, is easy. Actually doing it, now that's a different story -- especially when thereās a national championship on the line.
Unless you're Stetson Bennett, that is.
Shaking off the fumble that could have doomed Georgiaās chances for its first national title in 41 years, he uncorked a 40-yard TD pass on the very next drive.
"There was going to be no way I was going to let a turnover like that stop us from winning a national championship," said Bennett, who was named the offensive player of the game. "I wasnāt going to let that happen. I wasnāt going to be the reason we lost."
Alabama comeback stifled with two best receivers out
Bryce Young couldnāt deliver another dramatic drive with his two best wide receivers watching from the sideline.
Not with the nationās best defense in the way.
The Alabama sophomore had his Heisman Trophy-winning season effectively ended by a last-minute pick six in a 33-18 loss to Georgia in the College Football Playoff championship game Monday night in Indianapolis.
All-American Jameson Williams injured his left knee in the first half and didnāt return, joining fellow 1,000-yard receiver John Metchie III on Alabamaās injured list. Missing two of its biggest playmakers, the offense only found the end zone once.
Sure, itās way too early to look to 2022 season
And the Tide, of course, will be back
That wasn't just a College Football Playoff championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium on Monday.
Alabama vs. Georgia was a referendum on the direction of the sport.
This was a showdown between Nick Saban 2009 football (manifested in this case by the Bulldogs) vs. new-age Nick Saban football (Crimson Tide).
The winner: Old-school, hard-nosed, defensive football. Save the icing; no need for any on this cake. Georgia's 33-18 victory makes the case that you don't have to have a fancy offense to win it all.
Dean, who tallied four tackles in the 33-18 win against Alabama, was shown wearing the wrong championship hat. Instead of the block-letter "G," Dean sported an Alabama championship hat on the field. The win gave Georgia its first national title since 1980.title in 41 years.
Notebook: Red-zone struggles, simple on D ā¦
Alabama had plenty of chances Monday ā but rarely turned those opportunities into touchdowns.
The Crimson Tide settled for field goals on three of four red-zone trips and scored its only touchdown on a 16-yard drive after a Georgia fumble. A blocked field goal prevented Alabama from adding any points after a 17-play drive that took nearly eight minutes off the clock in the third quarter.
Column Bennett need not defend himself, so I will
This should be the time of his life, and maybe ā we can only hope ā thatās how heāll remember it. But whenever he has spoken over the past week, he has been thrust in the position of defending himself. If youāre the quarterback some Georgia fans donāt want quarterbacking Georgia, such is life.
Column: Georgia sits atop the world, get used to it
To gaze into the future might be construed as not paying due reverence to what occurred Monday night, but gaze we must. Next year's national championship game is set for SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., which sits 12 miles from the intersection of Hollywood and Vine. The date will be Jan. 9, 2023. Georgia fans should make travel plans. All this winning could go on for a while.
Over the final 12 minutes at Lucas Oil Stadium, the Bulldogs answered all questions about Stetson Bennett, about Kirby Smart, about this program and the twin peaks it hadn't yet climbed. By beating Alabama to win the national title, Georgia has left nothing undone. Few teams have the resources the Bulldogs possess. When those resources ā rabid fans, fertile recruiting base, top-tier coaches, NFL-ready players, an all-in administration ā coalesce, Georgia football is a colossus.
