Georgia Bulldogs Countdown to Kickoff: Day 1
One day separates the Georgia Bulldogs from the start of their 2022 season. To celebrate it, I thought now would be a good chance to sum up my thoughts on the one Georgia National Championship I’ve seen in my lifetime.
The page officially turns tomorrow.
Georgia will have a very good football season. Its team story and players deserve their own attention and respect.
But no matter what happens, that one night in Indianapolis will always be enough when it comes to my thoughts and feelings about this program.
Sensitive content warning: I’m going to talk about some not-so-fun moments, too.
“I’m happy for y’all,” one Alabama fan told me as the time ticked down on a scoreboard that read GEORGIA 33- ALABAMA 18
“With all the National Championships we’ve won, it’s actually a good reminder of how important these things are. Congratulations.”
Just moments before, Kelee Ringo ran back a 79-yard pick-six on Heisman Trophy winner and Alabama quarterback Bryce Young for one final boot to Bama’s face.
And you thought that nose-full of hobnail in Knoxville felt good.
Ringo and everyone else wearing red and black weren’t just hollering in unison at Lucas Oil Stadium.
At long last, they were hugging, weeping and laughing at the top of College Football’s highest peak.
Many of the Alabama fans in our section were gracious as thousands of Bulldogs turned into puddles around them.
I, too, huddled up in tears with my Bulldog friends to the left and the right.
Dawgs of all ages held number ones high into the climate-controlled air as National Championship confetti finally found all of those Bulldog shoulders.
But to this day, it’s my interaction with the Crimson Tide fella that still resonates with me the most.
Because in that moment, I responded with the most authentic thing I could think to say to him.
It was a compliment for the Tide, and it was how I still genuinely feel about Georgia to this day.
“Thank you, kind Alabama fan.” (At least I want to think I said thank you.)
We (Georgia Bulldogs fans) don’t want to be you (fans of the Alabama juggernaut). You have the greatest College Football dynasty of all time.
But I just needed to see one. I just needed to know it could happen.”
Obviously, my sentiment doesn’t speak for all of the other Georgia Bulldogs out there
And as I wrote for day two on the countdown, it clearly doesn’t speak for Kirby Smart.
But I meant it.
That it was against Alabama – the program that delivered its own boot to Georgia’s face so many times – made the moment even more fulfilling.
One National Championship will always be enough for me, because Stetson Bennett‘s season was one of the greatest stories I’ve ever seen in sports – let alone Georgia Bulldogs athletics.
It will always be enough for me, because Kirby Smart and his staff assembled a team of NFL-caliber soul destroyers on defense and I will forever admire their dominance.
33-18 will always be enough for me, because of the Georgia-Florida game in 2002, the disappointment of the preseason #1 2008 team, Chris Conley‘s fateful reception in the 2012 SEC Championship game, Todd Gurley‘s suspension, and Nick Chubb‘s knee in Knoxville.
It will always be enough for me, because of the Prayer at Jordan-Hare, Alabama in the rain in 2015, and losing at home to Vanderbilt and Tennessee in 2016.
The 2021 Georgia Bulldogs will always be enough for me, because of 2nd & 26, Justin Fields running a fake punt in the 2018 SEC Championship, and losing at home to South Carolina in 2019.
No matter what happens in 2022, 2021 will always be enough.
Because one day, Georgia will have another one of these. Maybe a few more, even.
And I don’t ever want to forget what this one feels like.
Now, let’s move on to hunting season, shall we?
