Before Monday night’s College Football Championship, ESPN announcer and former coach Lee Corso listed Alabama coach Nick Saban’s attributes, such as his seven championship wins compared to Georgia coach Kirby Smart’s zero. Saban’s teams had defeated teams coached by his former assistants 24 of 25 times. Corso also pointed out how Alabama had whipped Georgia for the Southeastern Conference title back on Dec. 4. Corso, the one-time Indiana coach, then pointed out that Georgia was the betting favorite at 2½ points.
“Someone must know something I don’t know,” he said in pointing out that he favored Alabama. But when it came time to put on the mascot head to show his choice, it was the Georgia bulldog that he put on. I had picked Alabama. From what I saw and heard, the picks were about 50-50. I thought those who picked Alabama and I had good reason. We didn’t.
After a dull nearly three quarters, both teams came alive, but Georgia the most, winning the national championship at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium, 33-18.
The final score was deceiving. Alabama scored on a short pass from Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Bryce Young to Cameron Latu with 10:14 left in the fourth quarter. That put the Tide up, 18-13. That followed an Alabama recovery by Christian Harris who recovered a fumble on the 15-yard line on an attempted pass by Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett IV. “I wasn’t going to be the one who lost the game,” said Bennett to television announcer Holly Rowe as he and his team celebrated after the game.
And he wasn’t.
After being sacked two minutes after the touchdown, Bennett completed a 40-yard pass to Adonai Mitchell in the end zone for a 19-18 Georgia lead. After Alabama went four-and-out and with 3:33 to go, Bennett was hit while throwing, but still completed a 19-yard pass in the end zone to Brock Bowers. That made the score 26-18, but had people (including me) thinking about Alabama scoring a touchdown and two-point conversion to tie the game and force overtime.
But that wasn’t to be as Georgia scored another touchdown. Alabama did move the ball down the field, but with 54 seconds left, Georgia freshman Kelee Ringo intercepted and Georgia coach Kirby Smart became the second former Nick Saban assistant (along with Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher) to defeat their mentor. Along with other teams, Smart and Saban were together with the Miami Dolphins in 2006.
Comparing Bennett to the well-decorated Young was not much of a comparison although both went into the game with 13 victories and one loss. Bennett had walked on to Georgia without a scholarship. Not getting much notice, he dropped out of Georgia and went to a junior college. He then drifted back to Georgia, eventually getting a scholarship, but no assurance of playing time. As players dropped out of the picture, Bennett moved up and became the starting quarterback who took his team to the national championship.
Before the late-game excitement, Alabama’s Will Reichard had made three field goals and had one blocked, while Georgia’s Jack Podlesny had kicked two. Those made the score 9-6, Alabama, at the half. “There seems to be a little tendency to be careful,” said ESPN announcer Kirk Herbstreit. That both teams did, making for a boring first half at best.
