The Georgia Bulldogs went into Monday night’s college football championship looking for redemption against Alabama and they found it. Stetson Bennett delivered the biggest throws of his storybook career and Georgia’s defense sealed the sweetest victory in program history, vanquishing rival Alabama 33-18 Monday night for its first national title in 41 years.
Bennett connected with Adonai Mitchell on a 40-yard touchdown to give No. 3 Georgia a 19-18 lead with 8:09 left and then hooked up with Brock Bowers for a 15-yard TD on a screen to put the Bulldogs up eight with 3:33 left.
The final blow came from Georgia’s dominant defense. Kelee Ringo intercepted an underthrown deep ball down the sideline by Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young.
“I just saw the ball in his hands and that was all she wrote,” said safety Lewis Cine, the game’s defensive MVP.
Instead of going down with a little over a minute left, Ringo took off and behind a convoy of blockers and went 79 yards for a touchdown that set off a wild celebration by the relieved Georgia fans who packed Lucas Oil Stadium.
“There’s going to be some property torn up in Indianapolis tonight,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said, paraphrasing the late Georgia play-by-play man Larry Munson.
Georgia scored the first TD of the game! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/WSHBF7Cj6M
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 11, 2022
After Alabama added another field goal, the Tide caught a break on a strange looking turnover by the Bulldogs.
As Bennett was being taken down deep in Georgia territory, he tried to throw the ball away. The ball slipped loose and bounced toward the sideline, seemingly harmless. Alabama’s Drew Sanders casually caught the ball as he was jogging out of bounds.
Surprisingly, the ruling on the field was a fumble, recovered by the Tide and replay upheld the call, giving the Tide the ball in the red zone. A few plays later, Young eluded the rush and found Cameron Latu for a 3-yard touchdown that put Alabama up 18-13 with 10:14 left in the fourth.
Once again, it felt like Georgia would not be able to break whatever spell Alabama seemingly had on the Bulldogs.
Bennett was 13 for 22 for 141 yards as the next drive started, and you could practically hear all skeptical Georgia fans wondering why Smart didn’t turn to his four-star backup QB, J.T. Daniels, for a spark.
As he has done so many times during a career that started on the scout team and took a detour through junior college in Mississippi, the small-town Georgia kid nicknamed Mailman came through.
Bennett completed all three of his passes for 68 yards, including a long strike to Mitchell for a touchdown with 8:09 left that gave the Bulldogs a 19-18 lead after a failed 2-point conversion.
— Georgia Football (@GeorgiaFootball) January 11, 2022
The Bulldogs’ defense clamped down on Young, forcing a three-and-out on the Tide’s next drive, and then Georgia went to work on sealing a long-awaited championship.
Stetson Bennett ➡️ Brock Bowers
Georgia takes an 8-point lead! 🐶#GoDawgs #NationalChampionship pic.twitter.com/fzLGBm4bDv
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) January 11, 2022
GEORGIA PICK-SIX TO SEAL THE WIN! 🐶#NationalChampionship pic.twitter.com/MHlE9MMZHI
— ESPN (@espn) January 11, 2022
Young finished 35 for 57 for 359 yards with two interceptions and was sacked three times after Georgia didn’t bring him down one in the SEC title game.
“We played a heck of a game against a heck of a team for the first three quarters of the game,” said Saban, who was denied his eighth national title, seventh with Alabama in the last 13 years. “Nobody can take the SEC championship away from this team, the Cotton Bowl championship. We just didn’t finish the way we needed to finish.”
Former Georgia head coach Vince Dooley was among the thousands of UGA fans who traveled to Indianapolis for the game. Afterward, he and head coach Kirby Smart shared an emotional moment on the field.
The Bulldogs won their last championship under Dooley. Smart, who played for Georgia during college, joined the ranks of head coaches to win national titles at their alma mater.
THE SWEET TASTE OF VICTORY#GoDawgs | #NationalChampionship pic.twitter.com/wqFzuA0OBP
— Georgia Football (@GeorgiaFootball) January 11, 2022
This article appears on Now Habersham through a news partnership with GPB News.