Three plays. Georgia was just three plays away from ending a four-decade championship drought. Leading Alabama in overtime, with the Tide pinned 41 yards from the end zone on second down, the Bulldogs just had to make three more stops against a true freshman quarterback, and the national championship was theirs. Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta was rattling to its foundations, tension and anticipation ready to blow the roof off the still-new joint.
Dawg fans remember all too well what happened next. On second-and-26, Tua Tagovailoa dropped back, spotted Devonta Smith wide open on the left side of the field, and hit him for a perfect, game-ending, season-ending, hope-snuffing touchdown. The foundation of a new Georgia dynasty would have to wait another four years.
So it may be impolite, it may be jarring, it may be disrespectful to even ask the question, but it’s necessary: What if Georgia loses? And yet, this is right where things can get squirrelly. It's not all that long ago — about 355 days, give or take — that Georgia was thought of as an underachieving program, one that couldn't quite find the last pieces of the championship puzzle. SEC rivals Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Tennessee and Florida had all managed to win titles after Georgia's then-most-recent one, all the way back in 1980.
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