Indianapolis - Georgia's painful 41-year wait is over.
With 54 seconds left in Monday Night's College Football Playoff National Championship presented by AT&T, Georgia cornerback Kelly Ringo intercepted Alabama quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young and returned it for a touchdown from 79 yards — the championship game. Longest pick-six in history - No. 3 Bulldog's 33-18 win over No. 1 Crimson Tide and consolidate program's first national championship since 1980.
The play brought Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett, a former walk-on, to tears on the sidelines, and as the clock expired, Georgia's assistant coaches and staff climbed onto the elevator to the shaking press box at Lucas Oil Stadium, One shouts, "Say yes out loud!" As they were cheering together.
On the field, coach Kirby Smart said he hugged the neck of 89-year-old Vince Dooley — the last coach in Georgia before Smart to win the national title — and they were both in tears.
"I said to the people in the locker room, just take a picture of this, because I think back to the picture of the '80s Championship and look at all those players and Frank Walker and Herschel Walker and all these people who have reached out and Said things," Smart said. "Our people have accomplished something special, and they have become great, as they say, and that's what I wish for them."
Georgia fans chanted "Kir-bye! Kir-bye! Kir-bye!" after the trophy presentation. As players and coaches celebrated on the field in explosions of gleaming confetti.
"I didn't cry — I don't know, years — but he just got over me," said Bennett, who started off slow to lead the Bulldogs' fourth-quarter charge and was named offensive player of the game. "That's it—when the amount of time you put into this thing, blood, sweat, tears, it means something."
While it was a familiar matchup with the two teams facing each other in the 2018 national title game and again in this year's SEC championship game—both Alabama won—it was a wildly different one before the declared crowd of 68,311. The result was In the 2018 national championships, Alabama defeated Georgia 26–23 overtime.
Some things change.
"That was the group crying in the locker room," Smart said, referring to the 2018 team, which included former players Nick Chubb, Richard LeCount and D'Andre Swift. "This group made it right for them."
Georgia finished the 2021 season with a 14-1 record, the most wins in the school's history.
Alabama's streak of seven wins in the series - a streak that began in 2008 - was broken. Alabama coach Nick Saban is now 25-2 against his former assistants, with both losses this season—against Georgia's Smart on Monday Night, who worked under him in Alabama, and Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher. During the regular season against Joe Saban, he was on the offensive. LSU Coordinator Dr.
Saban said he congratulated Smart after the game.
"I love Kirby," Saban said. "I think Kirby has a lot of respect for us. He's done a great job for us for a long time. If we had to lose a national championship, I'd lose to a former assistant who certainly did very well." Worked for us and worked great for your program and your team.
"I am really proud of him. And I am proud of the way he has been able to coach his team and the consistency with which he has played throughout the year."
Despite critics lamenting the rematch, there was no shortage of drama or entertainment amidst the all-too-familiar foes. What began as a defensive slugfest without a touchdown in the first half—Georgia's six points at halftime were the season's lowest—developed into a display of big plays, with both teams trading touchdowns and two-points in the fourth quarter. Conversions were missing. , He delivered a thriller that was 180 degrees apart from his game at the SEC Championship a month earlier, when Alabama led Georgia to a stunning 41-24 victory.
Smart said that since the December loss, the Bulldogs practiced a lot of man-to-man coverage and "simplified some things." They did not want to beat Bama's top receiver Jameson Williams, who left the game in the first half with a left knee injury. They wanted to put more pressure on Young, which they did. He also wanted to get off the ground in third place so he could stay refreshed and "get a chance to run better."
It worked.
"He changed a few things," Young said. "We knew we could get some different looks. Some of the looks took me a while to get down. ... and I have to process it fast, just making the right game for the team better than tonight So they changed a few things, and I wasn't able to execute."
Both quarterbacks were struggling, especially early in the game. Bennett was dismissed a total of four times, Young three times. Bennett, who was criticized after his two interceptions in the SEC title game, overcame a costly glitch as the game progressed. He completed 224 yards, two touchdowns, and 17 of 26 passes without a hitch.
“Five years ago he was giving passes like Baker Mayfield against the scout team,” Smart said. “There are a lot of people who saw him play on that scout team with his feet, his arm whip and decision making, and we were very impressed. But again, to think that it would come a long way from that national championship. That was [in 2018] a part of it, man, what a story."
Smart said he got off the elevator on the 15th floor at the Team Hotel earlier this week, and saw Dooley sitting on a bench outside his room.
"I thought, God put him there to see him the night before his game, and he was waiting for his keys to come to his room," Smart said. "I just knew it meant something. It was a special, special victory."