BAMANEWSBOT
Staff
The crowd roared and the confetti exploded into the air above the makeshift stage on the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium field. The confetti floated down, sticking to the sweaty players, to the coaches and the fans who had gathered in the immediate aftermath of Georgia's 28-7 victory over Auburn in the Southeastern Conference championship game.
The giddy smiles and the physical hugs continued through the ceremony, as commissioner Greg Sankey congratulated the Dawgs, as Ray Charles crooned "Georgia on my Mind" through the sound system, as the collective message of "Oh my God, we're here!" ran across every face like the Times Square news zipper.
I have been fortunate to witness this tableau many times on many fields, and with the innocence and sheer joy I recognized on the first Saturday night in December came a sobering thought, one that I knew Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart would understand.
The Georgia fans won't be this happy again for a long time.
First of all, the Dawgs scratched a 12-year itch. That's how much time has elapsed since they previously won the SEC.
Second, winning the league made concrete what had been gossamer: Georgia actually can win a national championship. There's a chance of winning it all, and for the month of December, that chance is untainted by the disappointment of a prior loss, of knowing what it feels like to come close and fail. For now, there's just the excitement of unbridled opportunity.
Third, winning the SEC stamped Georgia as a genuine national power: Georgia, which has lived in the East Division shadow of Florida for so long; Georgia, which with the rest of the East, has lived in the shadow of Alabama for a decade.
That combination of satisfaction, possibility and validation will never quite be so powerful again.
Kirby Smart returned Georgia to national title contention and knows the pressure such expectations bring. AP Photo/John Bazemore
If Georgia wins the Rose Bowl, Georgia has won nothing. The Bulldogs have just stayed alive to win the national title.
Now, if Georgia beats Clemson or Alabama and wins the College Football Playoff National Championship, their fans will be ecstatic. I get that. The Bulldogs haven't won a national championship since 1980.
Moreover, the title game is back in Atlanta, and if you don't think that's an advantage for the Dawgs, ask LSU what it meant to play for its 2003 and 2007 BCS titles in New Orleans.
But with that national championship, with that moment when Smart again holds a trophy aloft in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, comes a whole new set of emotions. With success comes the weight of expectations. Boosters don't celebrate as wildly. Success becomes the floor instead of the ceiling.
"I've never really thought of it that way," Smart said, laughing. "It's kind of depressing the way you describe it. There's nowhere to go but down."
We spoke in the minutes before the ESPN College Football Awards Show recently. Smart and the other head coaches in the College Football Playoff -- Lincoln Riley of Oklahoma, Nick Saban of Alabama and Dabo Swinney of Clemson -- walked into a conference room, where a buffet of spring rolls, chicken tenders, shrimp satay and hamburger sliders awaited them.
"We're not at the monster stage yet," Smart said of Georgia. "We're still at the early stage, but you're right."
He looked across the room and waved toward Saban, for whom he worked at LSU, the Miami Dolphins and Alabama.
"I've been through it before, in Tuscaloosa," Smart said. "It's like, I feel sorry for him. What he's done can never be repeated."
Think back to the scene two years ago at University of Phoenix Stadium, the site of Clemson-Alabama I. The Tigers fans, who hadn't played for a national championship in 34 years, filled their seats two hours before the game. The Crimson Tide fans wandered into the stadium minutes before the game, acting as if they had been there before.
Now that Georgia is winning, players will sign with the Dawgs not so much to bond together and create success as much as for what Smart and his staff can do to get those players ready for the NFL.
Saban has lived that life for a decade, and we all have heard his rants from behind the Coke bottle about how Alabama's success is taken for granted. He speaks wistfully of that first class of Crimson Tide recruits, the Julio Joneses and Mark Barrons, who came together to recapture a lost tradition. He scolds media and fans alike for not appreciating weekly success.
Saban has been around long enough to understand that even success as sustained as Alabama's is fleeting. It is never easy to see a dynasty peak in real time. But if you look back at the past two seasons, you see Alabama go from national champion to runner-up to fourth seed. You see Alabama languishing in the teens in the 2018 recruiting rankings. You see that, for the third year in a row, Saban must replace a coordinator. The latest, Smart's replacement running the defense, Jeremy Pruitt, is, like Smart, as valuable a recruiter as he is a teacher and strategist.
Smart will recognize the current state of ecstasy in Georgia and prepare for it. He helped Saban win those four national championships in seven seasons. The rest of the Dawgs will learn fast, or they won't win again.
But first, let the Dawgs enjoy the giddiness of the now. In the delirium of the postgame celebration at the SEC championship, Vince and Barbara Dooley, the patriarch and matriarch of the Dawgs, stood near the sideline and beamed. Vince Dooley coached Georgia to that title in 1980. And he agreed that there was something about that celebration, about happiness without expectations, about happiness without relief, that is even richer.
"But," Dooley said, "you have to grab it when you can get it."
Enjoy this time, Georgia fans: This is as good as it gets
The giddy smiles and the physical hugs continued through the ceremony, as commissioner Greg Sankey congratulated the Dawgs, as Ray Charles crooned "Georgia on my Mind" through the sound system, as the collective message of "Oh my God, we're here!" ran across every face like the Times Square news zipper.
I have been fortunate to witness this tableau many times on many fields, and with the innocence and sheer joy I recognized on the first Saturday night in December came a sobering thought, one that I knew Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart would understand.
The Georgia fans won't be this happy again for a long time.
First of all, the Dawgs scratched a 12-year itch. That's how much time has elapsed since they previously won the SEC.
Second, winning the league made concrete what had been gossamer: Georgia actually can win a national championship. There's a chance of winning it all, and for the month of December, that chance is untainted by the disappointment of a prior loss, of knowing what it feels like to come close and fail. For now, there's just the excitement of unbridled opportunity.
Third, winning the SEC stamped Georgia as a genuine national power: Georgia, which has lived in the East Division shadow of Florida for so long; Georgia, which with the rest of the East, has lived in the shadow of Alabama for a decade.
That combination of satisfaction, possibility and validation will never quite be so powerful again.
Kirby Smart returned Georgia to national title contention and knows the pressure such expectations bring. AP Photo/John Bazemore
If Georgia wins the Rose Bowl, Georgia has won nothing. The Bulldogs have just stayed alive to win the national title.
Now, if Georgia beats Clemson or Alabama and wins the College Football Playoff National Championship, their fans will be ecstatic. I get that. The Bulldogs haven't won a national championship since 1980.
Moreover, the title game is back in Atlanta, and if you don't think that's an advantage for the Dawgs, ask LSU what it meant to play for its 2003 and 2007 BCS titles in New Orleans.
But with that national championship, with that moment when Smart again holds a trophy aloft in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, comes a whole new set of emotions. With success comes the weight of expectations. Boosters don't celebrate as wildly. Success becomes the floor instead of the ceiling.
"I've never really thought of it that way," Smart said, laughing. "It's kind of depressing the way you describe it. There's nowhere to go but down."
We spoke in the minutes before the ESPN College Football Awards Show recently. Smart and the other head coaches in the College Football Playoff -- Lincoln Riley of Oklahoma, Nick Saban of Alabama and Dabo Swinney of Clemson -- walked into a conference room, where a buffet of spring rolls, chicken tenders, shrimp satay and hamburger sliders awaited them.
"We're not at the monster stage yet," Smart said of Georgia. "We're still at the early stage, but you're right."
He looked across the room and waved toward Saban, for whom he worked at LSU, the Miami Dolphins and Alabama.
"I've been through it before, in Tuscaloosa," Smart said. "It's like, I feel sorry for him. What he's done can never be repeated."
Think back to the scene two years ago at University of Phoenix Stadium, the site of Clemson-Alabama I. The Tigers fans, who hadn't played for a national championship in 34 years, filled their seats two hours before the game. The Crimson Tide fans wandered into the stadium minutes before the game, acting as if they had been there before.
Now that Georgia is winning, players will sign with the Dawgs not so much to bond together and create success as much as for what Smart and his staff can do to get those players ready for the NFL.
Saban has lived that life for a decade, and we all have heard his rants from behind the Coke bottle about how Alabama's success is taken for granted. He speaks wistfully of that first class of Crimson Tide recruits, the Julio Joneses and Mark Barrons, who came together to recapture a lost tradition. He scolds media and fans alike for not appreciating weekly success.
Saban has been around long enough to understand that even success as sustained as Alabama's is fleeting. It is never easy to see a dynasty peak in real time. But if you look back at the past two seasons, you see Alabama go from national champion to runner-up to fourth seed. You see Alabama languishing in the teens in the 2018 recruiting rankings. You see that, for the third year in a row, Saban must replace a coordinator. The latest, Smart's replacement running the defense, Jeremy Pruitt, is, like Smart, as valuable a recruiter as he is a teacher and strategist.
Smart will recognize the current state of ecstasy in Georgia and prepare for it. He helped Saban win those four national championships in seven seasons. The rest of the Dawgs will learn fast, or they won't win again.
But first, let the Dawgs enjoy the giddiness of the now. In the delirium of the postgame celebration at the SEC championship, Vince and Barbara Dooley, the patriarch and matriarch of the Dawgs, stood near the sideline and beamed. Vince Dooley coached Georgia to that title in 1980. And he agreed that there was something about that celebration, about happiness without expectations, about happiness without relief, that is even richer.
"But," Dooley said, "you have to grab it when you can get it."
Enjoy this time, Georgia fans: This is as good as it gets
