Legge's Thoughts: UGA Survives Tech | Texas Looms
ATHENS - It was the longest game for any team in SEC or ACC history - the second-longest game ever in college football. Clean Old Fashioned Eight was an epic journey from Black Friday into championship season.
We knew that Georgia would be participating in championship season. We know, eight exhausting overtimes later, that Tech was unable to spoil Georgia’s season… if only by a few yards or a play. The fact of the matter is that Georgia Tech likely earned a win Friday night Between the Hedges.
But the fact is Georgia was the team that took home the win - somehow and someway. Tech didn’t take the win. Georgia did. That was the difference. This is the third time this season, and the 14th under Kirby Smart, where UGA has been trailing or tied in the fourth quarter and won the game.
Sanford Stadium’s lights flashed that Georgia owned the fourth quarter. It would be forced to against the Jackets, and it did. Carson Beck’s five touchdowns, and masterful second-to-last drive in regulation positioned Georgia to win the game. It was eight plays and 75 yards of Beck simply getting the job done.
Eight throws in a row - six completions… perhaps the biggest coming on London Humphreys’ play that which got UGA to the Tech 17. That set up Beck’s beauty of a throw to Dominic Lovett for a touchdown.
Enter Dan Jackson. Haynes King had an amazing night, but Jackson rocked him. It appeared on the field that Jackson had simply stoned King to force a fourth and short. Sitting in the end zone, I saw the ball laying on the ground for what felt like seconds. Why didn’t anyone see the ball? Things are so fast and sudden on the field... and to see the ball - the most coveted thing in the sport - just sit on the turf for that long seemingly unnoticed was bizzare.
As it turns out the ball was only on the turf for moments. That’s when Chaz Chambliss jumped on the ball that no one besides King knew was on the ground.
I asked Kirby about the pigskin being unattended for so long:
“I had no idea,” he answered. "I thought they were going to review it and flip it until they showed it on the big screen. It would have been great if we had a scoop and scored it and ran it in, but they didn’t know it came out. I thought we just stopped (him).”
It was a wild moment in time. Instead of the Jackets facing a punt, suddenly Georgia had the ball, the momentum and a shot at tying the game.
Six plays later Beck found Lovett again. The extra point that could have, would have and probably should have won the game had Kirby decided to kick an extra point after the Dawgs’ first touchdown would have to tie the game instead.
Going for two down 17-6 was a curious decision.
“I’m not going to dig real deep in it. It’s analytics, and we follow them almost to a T,” Kirby said. “We’re in charge of that. It ended up looking really interesting because you kick an extra point to win the game.”
I mean, OK. But that decision nearly cost Georgia the game. For all of the credit that Kirby must be given for pumping in resiliency, competence, discipline and winning into this program - that is a decision that will deservedly be questioned because it was questionable.
Then in the 258th minute of the game: Nate Frazier dashed his way into the end zone for the win.
It was a game that won’t soon be forgotten in the century-old rivalry. It appears to have been the game of the year in the regular season. King couldn’t throw a forward pass against NC State eight days before the game. Now he’s borderline getting an invite to New York City.
Tech’s Brent Key did an outstanding job of getting his team ready to play. Tech outcoached Georgia for an extended period of time in the game. Then Beck and the Bulldogs went on a tear. After a three-and-out to start the second half, Georgia scored touchdowns on six “drives” in a row - four in regulation, and two in a row from the 25 in overtime. And UGA needed all of them.
It is the sort of offensive production this team is capable of - apparently only in the second half of games - but capable of nonetheless. Why UGA can’t get out of its own way at the start of games on offense is hard to understand. Some of that is the lack of a serious run game that it has had in the past.
But that won’t work moving forward. Georgia is going to have to play better. Perhaps that suggests the defense doesn’t have issues. It does. The tackling at Georgia over the last two weeks has been bad - very bad. The first play of the game was atrocious. That got Tech going, and it wound up getting them three points, and in that game three points mattered.
All that said, Tech lost a game it should have won - Georgia won a game it should have won going into it… the Dawgs “probably” should have lost the game the way they played for the bulk of the game. Then again we know these Dawgs.
When you score four touchdowns in a row in the second half you are doing something right on offense. Georgia outscored Tech in a big way in the second half… what would that game have been like had Georgia gotten any points in the first?
It wouldn’t have been an eight-overtime exhaustion, and I am still exhausted. In terms of minutes of actual time, the 2024 Tech game is the second-longest game Georgia has played on record (going back to 2010). The longest was the overtime loss in the Outback Bowl to Michigan State after the 2011 season. Yes, Tech-UGA 2024 was longer than the Rose Bowl Game vs. Oklahoma.
Georgia has gotten really good at winning thrillers that span two days - Ohio State is still suffering all these years later.
It was an amazing night of football that will likely be talked about for decades.
What Georgia needs more than anything right now is time - and they got an additional day of rest because of playing on Friday night at home. Texas played Saturday night on the road. Beck talked about needing a day. Here’s what Kirby said:
“All we can do right now is rest. Our guys need a mental break. They need this day,” Kirby said.
I think college football itself could use a week after rivalry weekend.
We saw Michigan upset Ohio State as a 19-point underdog. Alabama and Auburn had a sideline fight. Mike Norvell wrapped up his season by complaining to Billy Napier about the Gators trying to plant a flag in the middle of the Noles’ field, and then throwing the flag in frustration. What is going on at FSU?
James Franklin continued to make friends and influence others by having his backups throw a touchdown on the final play of the game in a 44-7 win over lowly Maryland. Terps coach Mike Locksley said of Penn State’s final play:
“It was bullshit.”
That’s on brand for James Franklin.
"We are trying to play as long as we can, make the playoffs and be seeded as high as possible, and scoring as many points and a point differential matters,” Franklin said. “All that matters. If you don't get that, it's really not my problem.”
Lol. Let’s go!
Big Ten football is getting spicy at the end - pass me the pepper spray and long johns!
Tuesday night will tell us a lot about where things are headed. It seems like we know a few things. But let me pause, first, and say that right now the biggest thing in college football, contrary to Franklin’s assessment, is to win.
When Georgia went to Ole Miss and lost 28-10. Since that afternoon these teams have lost:
No. 15 LSU
No. 6 BYU
No. 7 Tennessee
No. 5 Indiana
No. 7 Alabama
No. 9 Ole Miss
No. 14 BYU
No. 15 Texas A&M
No. 2 Ohio State
No. 6 Miami
No. 12 Clemson
Texas, Georgia, Oregon, Penn State, Notre Dame, Boise and SMU have all continued to win…
We are not at the moment where all loses are terminal, but the next loss for teams not named Penn State, Georgia, Oregon, SMU and Oregon will be terminal… and SMU could lose and be out… we will see.
What happened Saturday in Columbus was indicative of a program that has all of the bells and whistles, but with someone in charge who has no idea how to make music. That was an embarrassment during the game only made worse when Ohio State decided to defend its turf, doing so in an artificial way on artificial turf, after its turf had been defiled by its own play.
Maybe confront Michigan when the band is playing rather than when the pepper is spraying.
Pathetic, Ohio State. Pathetic.
What will be the big thing to see is where everyone is lined up on Tuesday night. That’s going to set everything up you need to know. Teams like Oregon, Penn State, Georgia and Texas won’t be moved down a ton with the result of the title games on Saturday. Probably, not certainly, they will all either play in the quarters or host a playoff game. Notre Dame certainly will host a game. The last hosting spot is harder to know for sure, but it probably won’t be Indiana.
The point? Winning the SEC or Big Ten is the ideal situation - for a lot of reasons… namely time off. But the position those teams have put themselves in, along with Notre Dame, is the ideal position to be in.
Everything is there for Georgia now. Friday night earned the Dawgs that - even if only by a play.