UGA's Walk-Off Win You Forgot
ATHENS - On Saturday, Georgia won two games in walk-off fashion.
In Athens, the No. 4 baseball program won after Tucker Bradley's two-out homer beat Santa Clara 5-4. The come-from-behind win was Dawgs’ third of the season. Later that night, in Nashville, Tyree Crump nailed a buzzer-beating near 40-foot shot that gave the Dawgs a 80-78 win over Vanderbilt.
We all know the most famous walk-off win in UGA history (the 2018 Rose Bowl Game). We all know the most famous walk-off loss in UGA history (the 2018 National Championship Game).
But the one walk-off win that is likely forgotten in UGA history was the 2016 win over Kentucky in Lexington. And while fewer folks quickly remember that game compared to several other UGA walk-off affairs, there was a lot on the line for the Dawgs that cold night in Lexington.
At that point in 2016, UGA had lost four of five games. The program needed a win not only to avoid having a losing mark deep during a season for the first time since the 2010 season, but it needed a win to make certain it would reach a bowl game - a critical tool for development of a young program.
The game went back and forth. By the fourth quarter the Cats and Dawgs had exchanged leads three times. Kentucky had the ball down 24-21 with 9:12 on the clock when the game got interesting. 11 plays later Kentucky was first and goal at the UGA 9-yard line.
Benny Snell had run the ball seven times in a row, and moved the Cats from the UGA 47-yard line to the nine. Kirby Smart had seen enough and called timeout. He was trying to get his group to recover and refocus.
The next two Benny Snell runs netted the Cats only two yards. On third and goal from the seven, Kentucky’s pass fell incomplete. The Cats knocked in a 25-yard FG, and the game was tied at 24.
The defense had stopped what felt like a certain touchdown from happening. Now the offense, which had managed only 167 yard to that point in the game, needed to produce.
From the Cats’ 25, Jacob Eason found Isaac Nauta for two yards, and then Javon Wims for 12, and Georgia was off. Nick Chubb ran for three before Eason found Wims again for 12. The Dawgs were across midfield. Another Eason pass, this time to Terry Godwin for 16, got UGA into field goal position.
Back-to-back runs from Sony Michel got the Dawgs to the UK 15-yard line.
Georgia took a timeout with 20 seconds left in the game.
Another Sony run got the ball to the Cats’ 8-yard line, and moved the clock down to three seconds left in the game. Georgia was going to win, and Rodrigo Blankenship was going to kick a 25-yard field goal to do it.
Eason caught the field goal snap, and placed it on the turf at Commonwealth Stadium. By the time the ball hit the net between and behind the goal posts, the Dawgs had won a thrilling ball game that helped the program on its way.
A week later UGA took out No. 8 Auburn 13-7. The 2016 season was capped off with the announcement of the return of four seniors - including Chubb and Michel - and a win over TCU in the Liberty Bowl. Things changed - seemingly for good - after that night.
Georgia has only lost eight games since that cold night in Lexington. The win, and the way UGA won, was a shot in the arm for the program. Georgia usually celebrates tight wins like most teams, but the win over Kentucky seemed very special that night in the moment. The Dawgs huddled in one of the breezeways and celebrated the win. The noise was easily noticable after the game was long over.
Wins over Kentucky aren’t usually the most thrilling; they typical are forgotten because they are expected. But Georgia’s win over the Cats that night in Lexington is the biggest walk-off win you won’t remember any time soon.
