The end arrived with a concession and a hug from a crimson-jerseyed opponent.
With a little less than a minute to play, Georgia coach Kirby Smart removed his headset and handed it to a staffer.
There was no more need to strategize with assistant coaches. All that was left was one more kneel-down by Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe and the SEC Championship game officially would be over, the top-ranked Bulldogs’ pursuit of a historic third consecutive national championship most likely expiring with it.
A state trooper escorted Smart to the middle of the field to shake hands with Alabama coach Nick Saban in a meeting swallowed up by photographers and videographers. On the way, he gave an embrace to Crimson Tide offensive lineman Tyler Booker, part of the Alabama offensive line that had won the game’s final battle. With the game – and most likely both teams’ College Football Playoff hopes – on the line, the No. 8 Tide ran for two first downs to bleed out the final 2:52 and secure the 27-24 victory in a clash between the winners of the past three national championships.
Booker, who in his recruitment had come close to picking Georgia over Alabama (he said his mother was in tears when he called Smart to tell him he was not going to be a Bulldog), told Smart it was good to see him.
“He said, ‘Great to see you, too,’” Booker said. “‘Great game.’”
As the corner of Mercedes-Benz Stadium occupied by Alabama fans roared in celebration of the team’s record 30th SEC title, Georgia players exchanged hugs with friends on the Alabama roster and coaching staff and exited the field through the northeast tunnel, helmets in hand. They had not experienced that lonely retreat in two years – in the same game, on the same field, to the same opponent.
“I don’t even know how to explain it,” safety Malaki Starks said of his emotions as the game ended. “A bunch, I guess, I would say. Anger, sad, upset, whatever. Frustrated, whatever you want to say.”
Two years ago, it was the wizardry of Alabama quarterback Bryce Young, riddling Georgia for 421 passing yards and three touchdowns in a 41-24 defeat of the Bulldogs in the SEC title game. A shortage of qualified contenders that year enabled Georgia to claim a spot in the playoff despite the title-game loss, serendipity that launched the Bulldogs’ truly astounding 29-game win streak (longest in SEC history) and their back-to-back national championships. Such circumstances don’t appear to be in the Bulldogs’ favor this time around. Michigan, Washington, Alabama and Texas all can reasonably claim better résumés than the Bulldogs, as could Florida State if it could limp past Louisville in the ACC title game Saturday night.
On Saturday night, Young’s successor Milroe took his turn as Saban’s implement of destruction, defeating the Bulldogs defense with his speed, agility, size and right arm. Earlier in the week, Smart compared him favorably with two Heisman Trophy winners (one of whom also has won an NFL MVP), Tim Tebow and Lamar Jackson. Milroe did no disservice to the assessment against Smart’s defense.
“With how good of an athlete he is, it’s a real big challenge,” UGA linebacker Smael Mondon Jr. said.
Smart made the decision to assign one and sometimes two defenders to mirror Milroe a few yards off the line of scrimmage to prevent him from scrambling for gains. It worked to an extent – with his scrambling options plugged, Milroe was sacked four times and netted 29 rushing yards.
But the commitment to spy Milroe came at a cost, as it opened the rest of the field for the Alabama offense and deprived the defense of a player who otherwise could rush him or defend against the pass. Milroe’s 8.3 yards-per-attempt average and his 155.3 passer rating both were season highs against Georgia’s defense.
And, despite Georgia’s singlemindedness, Milroe still managed to outperform the Bulldogs on three of the biggest plays of the night. One was a 22-yard completion on a fourth-and-4 pass late in the first half – video replays indicated that it should have been ruled an incompletion – that kept Alabama’s drive alive and led to a touchdown for a 17-7 lead.
Another was a third-and-2 play at the Georgia 25-yard line with about 7½ minutes left in the game. Down 20-17, the Bulldogs desperately needed a stop to limit Alabama to a field goal and keep the Tide’s lead to one possession. Milroe dropped back, danced away from pressure before stepping up into the pocket, where linebacker C.J. Allen – Milroe’s spy – charged at him. Milroe improvised and feathered a pass/pitch just past Allen’s left ear that Alabama receiver Isaiah Bond (the recipient of Milroe’s last-minute touchdown pass to beat Auburn the previous Saturday as well as the second-quarter fourth-and-4 pass) caught on the run for a first down. The conversion that led to a touchdown for a 27-17 lead with 5:47 left.
“I saw (the third-and-2 pass),” Starks said. “He’s been doing it all season. Watching film, he makes plays like that all the time, so it wasn’t anything new.”
Milroe summoned the last big play on Alabama’s final drive, with the Tide needing to protect their three-point lead after the Bulldogs – gallantly playing to the last – drove for a touchdown to shrink the lead to 27-24 with 2:52 left in the game. On the first play of the drive, Milroe tucked the ball with his right arm and skittered off left tackle, not stopping before he had gained 30 yards and smartly downed himself inbounds to keep the clock running.
Not long after, Smart was removing his headset and heading toward his handshake with his mentor Saban. Smart said that players were sad and upset in the locker room after the game.
“Guys really care about this team,” he said. “The culture is really good on this team. They were hurt in there, rightfully so.”
To end the win streak tied for the longest in FBS since Miami won 34 in a row from 2000-02, it took arguably the greatest coach in college football history, a proud team determined to regain its place in the playoff and a superior performance by a talented quarterback.
The exceptional talent, ruthlessness and deft game-planning that were Georgia’s hallmark in the capture of two consecutive national titles finally met their match Saturday.
“They’re very similar across the board,” Starks said of the Tide. “We were out there, and it was kind of like we were just playing each other like we were at practice.”
Georgia will rue mistakes – a missed field-goal try unnecessarily lengthened by a false-start penalty, a fumbled handoff deep in its own end and an Alabama touchdown pass enabled by a coverage breakdown among them.
It was bound to happen eventually, and Saturday was the day. The dominant Bulldogs finally were caught.
Said running back Kendall Milton, “At the end of the day, they just got the best of us.”
