So close, so many times. And so often, Alabama was the culprit. But on January 10, 2022, the world changed and a mighty nation, The Bulldog Nation rejoiced in glory, euphoria, ecstasy and relief. At Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, the Georgia Bulldogs defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide to capture the 2021 National Championship. It was Georgia’s first since 1980. The following year, the Bulldogs posted a perfect 15-0 mark and won a second consecutive national title, as Georgia became the first program in the College Football Playoff era to win back-to-back crowns.
Georgia’s consecutive national titles go down as one of the great accomplishments in college football history, and those trophies shine as the ultimate achievement of the Kirby Smart dynasty in Athens.
That night in Indy, with one mighty sword, the Bulldogs slayed two dragons.
We all know the near misses, the cruel heartbreak delivered by the Houndstooth Pachyderm.
The first Georgia-Alabama loss I knew came in 1985. I had just turned 13. As I like to say, back then I was really into Georgia Football. The Bulldogs had won in Birmingham the year prior, the two playing for the first time since 1977. So here we were, Labor Day Night, 1985. The Bulldogs trailed most of the night, but rallied from a 13-3 deficit, buoyed by a blocked punt, awakening the echoes of Labor Day Night 1982, to take a 16-13 lead with the clock winding down. But Mike Shula took the Tide right down the field, and hit Al Bell for the winning touchdown in the closing seconds. It was brutal. When I think back on that game – even with the pain of Pitt and Penn State – that was the night when I started to expect bad things to happen to my beloved Georgia Bulldogs.
I was in the Superdome for the loss to Penn State, which cost Georgia the 1982 national championship. I had always hoped it would be my No. 1 heartbreaker. It got passed on 1/8/18. I was in Atlanta that night, and for the other two. Yes, I was there for all three of the brutal 2010s blown double digit second half leads in losses to Alabama. The anesthesia-free heart stabbings and removals from the collective chest cavities of the Georgia faithful cost the Bulldogs the 2018 national title, a likely crown in 2012 and a shot at one in 2018.
But that night in Indy changed everything. The dream came true. Now, here in the height of Kirby Smart’s reign as the king of college football, the Georgia faithful rightfully expect great things to happen. That goes for this Bulldog lover too. So much of that scar tissue was doused in the healing medicine of the ultimate victory in Indianapolis.
Far too many of those lifetime lasting wounds came in New Orleans and Atlanta. I was so very glad that this national championship game wasn’t in either of those cities.
Emily and I drove up to Nashville, the halfway point between Athens and Indy, on Saturday. My mom came to Athens and took care of Albus and Hermie. She and our friend Kitty Culpepper, and Albus and Hermie, would cheer the Dawgs on from Athens.
On the drive, we got a fantastic pep talk from my friend Chris Welton, one of the Bulldogs standouts from the 1980 national championship team. We got another good sign that night at dinner in the Music City. Being a huge Seinfeld fan, there was a guy sitting at the bar, while we waited for our table, who looked just like Larry David.
On Sunday, we made it to Indianapolis. I didn’t make the cut for the team hotel, so we had to stay in a not so five-star establishment. But it was fine. We had a great dinner with friends on Sunday. The anticipation, and nerves of the game, were relentless. We’ve gotten here again, and of course we’ve got to play them. Can we finally do it?
Well we did. Kevin Butler and I – along with the Road Dawg Adam Gillespie, who provided champagne and our producer Luke Nadkarni – took the post game call-in show to past 3 a.m. We easily could have gone until noon. It was incredibly emotional. There was very little talk form our elated fans who called in about the game itself, the tears of joy filled conversations were about how much the game went to them. How they wished their dad or best friend was with them. Of dark days, when a night like that unsurpassable one in Indy, seemed a distant dream.
Emily was at the team hotel with my famous friends “John and the Judge.” Kevin and I made our way there and the celebration was epic.
Sometime around 5 or 6 a.m., we headed back for our less than stellar hotel. It was one of the chains, of which there were several in Indianapolis. My only job for Emily was to get the directions pulled up for the drive back to our hotel. Well the one she entered was a different location than the one I punched in. We had conflicting Siris, taking us all around Indy … Pascual Perez I-285 style. We finally made it back. Somehow. I slept for maybe three hours. Then came the victory ride home, as victorious Georgia fans honked and waved at one another with utter joy. It reminded me of the drive to New Orleans on December 30, 1982 with my parents and my cousin.
The traffic in Nashville and Chattanooga was awful, then of course there was Atlanta that night. The drive, which I’d hoped to be around nine and a half hours, wound up taking a little over 11. Emily and I joked that between the conflicting directions and the length of the drive “Thank God we won, or we would have been in divorce court.”
The next two seasons, the 15-0 national championship 2022 and 13-1 campaign from 2023 are my two most enjoyable Georgia football seasons ever. We had finally done it. The pressure was gone. Then the Dogs did it again, and came real close last year.
Now here we are again. Georgia and Alabama are both 3-0 with playoff aspirations and championship dreams.
And Bulldog fans don’t have to hear, “you haven’t won a national championship since 1980.”
On my I-phone under the weather app, here are the towns I have listed: Athens, Saint Simons, Statesboro, Milledgeville, Savannah, Amelia Island … and Indianapolis. That city will always be a special place for me and for so many Georgia faithful. Life changed that night. Food is tastier, flowers smell prettier and the sun shines brighter. Everything changed on January 10, 2022 in Indianapolis. It’s one of the greatest nights of my life.