For many Covenant Students, the past two weeks have been a dream. The Great Hall has been filled with shirts reading “Go Dawgs,” my Instagram feed has been filled with posts about Stetson Bennet working at Cane’s, the Georgia victory parade, and videos of students in tears after Kelee Ringo’s pick-six with 1:00 remaining in the game. For some of you, the last sentence might mean nothing. For others, it might be a little too soon to think about (there’s always next year).
But for many, it brings an end to the forty-one-year struggle that comes with being a Georgia sports fan. The number of heart-wrenching losses, such as the infamous “Prayer at Jordan-Hare,” the number of times we have heard “this is our year” from die-hard fans, only for them to be let down in the playoffs — all of this has been brought to an end. The Georgia Bulldogs are finally National Champions, for the first time since 1980.
image from The Guardian
Coming into the season, Georgia had a tough schedule. They opened with a win against Clemson, who was ranked third in the nation. They blew out UAB by 49 points and went on to win their next two games decisively. Georgia shut out eighth-ranked Arkansas, and went on to win by thirty-seven points. The Bulldogs then went on to beat eighteenth-ranked Auburn by more than three touchdowns and then eleventh-ranked Kentucky by seventeen, all in three consecutive weeks. Not only was Georgia beating talented opponents, but they were also doing it decisively.
They went on to win their next five games including a forty-five-point blowout of “rival” Georgia Tech. Their next opponent was their biggest yet, the number three ranked Alabama Crimson Tide. Georgia was favored in the betting pool entering the game, however, ended up losing the game by seventeen points. People began to doubt if Georgia was really a contender for the national championship in spite of their 12-0, perfect regular season.
Georgia was ranked third heading into the College Football Playoff Semifinal, facing second-ranked Michigan in the Orange Bowl. The Bulldogs silenced the aforementioned doubters with an incredibly decisive twenty-three-point blowout of the Wolverines. The Bulldogs were National Championship bound, set to face their personal goliath, a rematch against the Alabama Crimson Tide.
The Georgia Bulldogs and Alabama Crimson Tide faced off in the 2022 National Championship Game in Indianapolis. The game started off slowly, with the Crimson Tide leading 3-0 after the first quarter. At halftime, the Bulldogs were down three, with the score a mere 9-6. In the second half, helped by a sixty-seven-yard rush by running back: James Cook, the Bulldogs scored the first touchdown of the game, taking the lead 13-9. In the fourth quarter, Alabama scored a touchdown and field goal to go up 18-13. This didn’t last long because Georgia answered with two touchdowns of their own to retake the lead 26-18. And then, in a moment that will replay in the heads of Georgia fans for years, with less than one minute left, cornerback Kelee Ringo intercepted an Alabama pass and ran it back 79 yards for a touchdown, sealing the win for Georgia 33-18.
image from Tuscaloosa
“There were a lot of scripts of what this game would have looked like. But, no one would have predicted this type of game. No one would have thought that our former walk-on and inadequate quarterback would have let us from behind in the fourth quarter to be perfect and outdo the Heisman trophy winner. There were a lot of near misses and coming up shorts under Richt and even under Kirby, but Georgia finally gets it done after 41 years of wanting a national title. GO DAWGS!” Sarah Blake Rodgers ‘23 said.
This game was very fun for a lot of Covenant students, but for two students in particular, this was a very special weekend. Olivia Sanders and Wesley Dusek were selected to represent Covenant, along with students from Shenandoah University, working with the NCAA at the College Football Playoff National Championship.
“You don’t get to see how much work goes into an event like that on TV. You are seeing the tip of an iceberg. It was amazing to get to learn more about what goes into a championship game, and meet some of the hundreds of staff that make the event happen!” Sanders said.
“We were able to get into the stadium six hours before the game started which was really cool to see all that goes on before a game,” Dusek added. When asked what her favorite aspect of the trip, Sanders said “Oh my goodness, the whole thing was my favorite. I specifically appreciated getting to meet other professionals in the industry and getting to talk with them and ask them questions! It was so valuable. I think it was also so special to see a team win it all and just the raw emotion that comes with that.” Both Sanders and Dusek expressed their gratitude for Professor Kourmoulis, who organized the trip and also their fellow students at Shenandoah University, who they got to work with.
In the end, many Covenant students got to see their dreams come true, whether it be the two sports management majors, who got to get practical hands-on experience in their field at the highest level, or just die-hard Georgia fans who got to watch 41 years of heartbreak dissipate before their eyes. For both groups, the events of Jan. 10 2022, will forever live in their memories.