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[su_spacer size=”20″] When this game first appeared on the schedule, the hype began. The epic Southeastern Conference Championship Game of 2012, in which Georgia suffered one of the most heart-breaking losses in school history, falling to Alabama 32-28, just a few short yards away from a crack at the national championship that would be captured by the Crimson Tide is the driving force.
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It was a most bitter pill, coming so close, and falling in such excruciating fashion.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Like the devastating January 1, 1983 loss to Penn State in the Sugar Bowl for the 1982 national championship, the 1927 loss to Tech, 1942, 1971 and 1983 setbacks to Auburn, the 2002 defeat in Jacksonville, and the New Year’s Day 1982 New Orleans gut-wrencher to Pitt, the Georgia Dome crusher will forever reside in the penthouse suite of the Bulldogs heartbreak hotel.
[su_spacer size=”40″] What could have been? The most painful of questions when it comes to matters of the heart, and what causes such passion in so many as SEC football?
[su_spacer size=”40″] The Georgia faithful want this one badly.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Beating Alabama would be a huge feather in the Bulldogs cap. It certainly wouldn’t ease the pain of 2012, but it would point the Bulldogs to a potential path to greatness in 2015.
[su_spacer size=”40″] As a matter of fact, it can be argued that for the Bulldogs prospects of this season, this is the least important game the Bulldogs will play the rest of the way. This one or Auburn. Winning the state championship is at the top of the list. After the Tide, and leading into Auburn, the next four games are against teams out of the SEC East. If Georgia loses to Alabama, all of the Bulldogs dreams and goals — save an undefeated 15-0 campaign — are attainable. There would be the possibility of a rematch in Atlanta, or who knows, maybe even the playoff. A loss to Bama wouldn’t knock Georgia down too far in the polls, and there would certainly be no shame in losing to a team that has posted four straight 11-1 regular seasons. With the hype and energy of this Titanic showdown, it is vital for the Bulldogs players and fans not to get too wrapped up, good or bad, in what goes down Saturday. The game the following Saturday in Knoxville, the most difficult challenge for Georgia this season considering the lead-in, is more important to Georgia’s championship hopes.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Savor the opportunity on Saturday, but a loss is far from a death blow, while a victory, though an enormous step down the championship road, puts an enormous target on the Bulldogs chest. First with Tennessee. Then Missouri. Then the Gators. And so on.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Such is life in the toughest league in the land.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Two of the most significant wins of the Mark Richt era in Athens came against the Crimson Tide. Underdog Georgia edged Alabama 27-25 in Tuscaloosa in 2002, with Billy Bennett’s kick and Thomas Davis’s interception in the final minute making the difference. The Bulldogs beat Tennessee the following weekend and finished the season 13-1, No. 3 in the land, winning the program’s first SEC championship since 1982. Georgia’s first ever win over Alabama in Tuscaloosa (most of the previous games with the Tide on the west side of the Chattahoochee were played in Birmingham) stamped legitimate on the Bulldogs championship pedigree.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Five years later, once beaten Georgia handed Nick Saban his first loss as Alabama’s head coach. The Bulldogs had led for almost the entire game at Bryant-Denny Stadium, but Alabama pulled even in the final minute and a Brandon Coutu field goal just missed after a sudden wind came up, perhaps blown from above from an icon in a Hounds tooth hat. An Alabama field goal in overtime gave the Crimson Tide their first lead of the night at 23-20. But Georgia struck immediately. Matthew Stafford hit Mikey Henderson down the left side of the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown on the Bulldogs first and only offensive play of overtime and the Georgia faithful were in instant euphoria. Two weeks later, the Bulldogs lost to Tennessee. Georgia would miss out on the SEC Championship Game, but an 11-2 mark and No. 2 national ranking made for one of the great seasons of the Richt era. Combined with a 37-23 victory in Athens in 2003, it marked a third straight win over Alabama. Like in 2002, one of the shining victories in a special campaign came in Tuscaloosa.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Richt and Saban have intersected in a series of significant showdowns. Saban began his SEC career at LSU in 2000, Richt the following season in Athens. In 2003, LSU won a 17-10 thriller over the Bulldogs in Baton Rouge, as Georgia failed to cash in on a slew of scoring opportunities. Six times in the first half Georgia got inside the LSU 35-yard line. The Bulldogs trailed 7-3. The two teams would rematch in Atlanta, and the Tigers rolled to a 34-13 victory — the Bulldogs dropping a would be touchdown on the opening drive of the game. Had Georgia won in Baton Rouge — now this is working on the enormous “what if” assumption that history would have played out the same afterwards had the results been different — then the Bulldogs would have been 11-1 playing Ole Miss in the title tilt. A win there would have given Georgia the date with Oklahoma and a shot at the national title.
[su_spacer size=”40″] It would be LSU that won the national championship in 2003.
[su_spacer size=”40″] From 2002-2007, Georgia had five top ten seasons with two SEC crowns.
[su_spacer size=”40″] In 2008, Georgia and Alabama were both undefeated heading into a Saturday night showdown between the hedges. Trying to match the “black out” atmosphere of the previous season’s 45-20 rout of Auburn, the Bulldogs, to paraphrase Saban, wore black to their own funeral. Bama led 31-0 at the half in Athens and won 41-30.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Something changed within the program that night. Georgia would get blown out by Florida and blow a 28-12 halftime lead to Tech, falling to the Jackets and missing out on the opportunity to beat “the enemy” for an eighth straight time, matching the infamous drought of 1949-56.
[su_spacer size=”40″] The Bulldogs went 8-5 and 6-7 the next two seasons. Georgia lost four games in 2011. The great 2012 campaign proved to be the outlier of a stretch from 2008-2014 as the lone campaign that ended with fewer than three losses.
[su_spacer size=”40″] But there is a new air and energy within the Georgia program. It started with changes within the coaching staff over the last two seasons. It is translating in recruiting and a fire on the field. Saturday afternoon is a huge game for both team’s aspirations in 2015. It can also be viewed as a measuring stick for Georgia. If the Bulldogs win, greatness is within the program’s grasp. Immediately. This time though, if things don’t go right, doing something special is still well soon within Georgia’s grasp.
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[su_spacer size=”40″] Make sure to check out Bulldawg Illustrated’s latest print edition: Saban vs Richt – Only one man will be smiling after this one, digital issue available for free online click HERE.
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