By Charles Cates | contributor ATHENS, Ga. — The University of Georgia football team is set to meet the University of Alabama in the College Football Playoff Championship Game on Jan. 8 in Atlanta. The championship game will be the culmination of an unbelievable season for the Bulldogs. Coach Kirby Smart’s second season with UGA began with running backs Nick Chubb and Sony Michel deciding to return for their senior season instead of heading to the NFL draft. Smart said of his team strategy for this season “just keep chopping wood.” In the first game of the season against Appalachian State, UGA sophomore quarterback Jacob Eason went down with a knee injury on a late hate as he neared the ASU sideline. Coach Smart, a former Alabama assistant, called on his backup, true freshman Jake Fromm from Houston County High School in Warner Robins, to lead the team to victory. Fromm stepped in and played like he had been the starter for years. The second big hurdle of the season came with a trip to South Bend, Ind., to play Notre Dame for the first time since the National Championship game in 1980. Fromm, with only one game under his belt, was now starting in the biggest road game Georgia had played in many years. However, Fromm played with tremendous leadership and poise, and UGA won a close game 20-19 with the help of the all-star running backs, Nick Chubb and Sony Michel. Some Bulldog fans saw the victory over Notre Dame as a sign that this was going to be a special season. Still, most fans blocked such feelings, fearing decades of history would repeat itself. Every season since 1980 has made UGA fans very wary of getting their hopes up too high. They are constantly waiting for the proverbial, other shoe to drop. Thus, despite success for the first half of the season, Georgia fans were cautious to let their dreams of the postseason grow. Even after pummeling one SEC rival after another and clinching a spot in the SEC championship game, fans were still waiting to wake up and the dream is over once again. Finally, on Nov. 11, the Dawgs made the short trip to Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., as the No. 1 ranked team in the nation. Early in the game, it became evident that Georgia was off and Auburn was on. UGA fans began to feel that all too familiar feeling, that once again our team was not destined for the big dance. Auburn humbled Georgia 40-17. Georgia dropped from No. 1 to 7 in the CFP rankings, and the University of Alabama regained its spot as No. 1. However, Auburn was on fire and beat their top-ranked, in-state rival in the last game of the regular season. Georgia fans’ ears perked as we realized they would have a shot at a rematch with Auburn in the SEC championship. This time, the Tigers would be far from their comfortable home on the plains in Auburn. On Dec. 2, the Dawgs and the Tigers faced off again in the SEC Championship. The winner most likely is headed to the fourth-ever College Football Playoff. This game was different than the first meeting of the “South’s Oldest Rivalry” back in November. Fromm, who proved himself worthy of the starting quarterback position over a rehabilitated Eason, played his best game yet with Chubb and Michel (the all-time most prolific running tandem in the history of college football) leading the run game. On defense, inside linebacker Roquan Smith showed why he would eventually win the Dick Butkus award for the best defensive player in the nation. Smith had an incredible game against Auburn in the SEC title game, and UGA won the contest 28-7.
Most of them shared the same thought: that the Rose Bowl would bewhere we would find out for certainif the Dawgs had finally broken their38-year curse or if the other shoe would finally drop.
The next day, Sunday, Dec. 3, the four playoff teams were announced. Clemson, Oklahoma, Georgia and Alabama were in the playoff. Georgia was set to face Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., on New Year’s Day. The month between the second Auburn game and the matchup with the Sooners seemed like an eternity for Georgia fans. Most of them shared the same thought: that the Rose Bowl would be where we would find out for certain if the Dawgs had finally broken their 38-year curse or if the other shoe would finally drop. Oklahoma was led by Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Baker Mayfield. Nicknamed the Magician, Mayfield lived up to his reputation. His offense played fast and the Sooners led UGA 31-17 at the half. However, when the teams took the field for the second half, there was a noticeable difference in the Georgia players. The Dawgs’ defense began to play as if it was possessed, stopping Oklahoma on every drive. Georgia’s offense scored 21 unanswered points to go up by seven. Oklahoma then seemed to have reawakened after and scored 14 points the fourth quarter, one of those coming after a Michel fumble. By the end of regulation, the score was tied at 45-45. The first overtime began with UGA journalism major Rodrigo Blankenship making a 38-yard field goal — he had made a 55-yarder on the last play of the first half, a key moment in the game. Now Oklahoma had a chance to answer. UGA also held the Sooners to a field goal. At 48-48, the tension continued to grow. In the second overtime, the Dawgs held the Sooners to a field goal attempt. This would prove the most important defensive play of the game, as Georgia’s Lorenzo Carter jumped high and blocked the 27-yard attempt by Austin Seibert. Now the Dawgs could win with either a field goal or a touchdown. The Bulldogs lined up in their wildcat formation with a direct snap to running back Michel. The senior communication studies major took the ball to the left toward the sideline and, with a huge block from quarterback Fromm, ran it into the end zone to win the Rose Bowl for the Bulldogs for the first time since 1942. Georgia will now head to Atlanta to the College Football Playoff Championship on Monday to face the mighty Alabama Crimson Tide, looking for a fifth national title since 2009, all under Nick Saban. Like most Georgia fans, I am still in shock that we are finally going to have a chance at a national title. With weary and cautious eyes, we watched our dreams continue to come true this season. We never gave up hope, but we took every victory with a grain of salt. In the end, whether Georgia wins or not on Monday, we will not look back on this season as a loss. We will most certainly look back and see this season as the start of something new and something big. It has been a glorious campaign. Charles Cates is a senior majoring in communication. His family has a long tradition of attending Bulldog football games at Sanford Stadium.Contact Charles Cates at ccates@augusta.edu.