The national championship loss hurts, but Georgia knows what it accomplished this season
Out of sight in a tunnel leading to Georgia’s locker room, freshman offensive tackle Isaiah Wilson stood in silent thought.
His face rested in his right hand. He was dressed in grey sweats, and he had pulled a hood over his head. He stood there for minutes, watching the confetti continue to fall. It had been five minutes since Alabama beat Georgia in overtime, 26-23, to win the national championship. Wilson didn’t say a word. The final touchdown struck right at the heart of Georgia and its fans.
They had waited 37 years for a national title. They’ll have to wait at least one more.
“I’m sick,” sophomore Isaac Nauta said.
“It's fuel,” freshman Richard LeCounte said.
In the immediate aftermath of a heartbreaking, devastating loss, Georgia’s players tried to process what just happened. Some slammed locker doors. Others avoided talking about it, retreating to the shower. Some suppressed tears.
Still, many knew what they did this season. This time last year, Georgia was beginning its offseason. It watched this game on television. The Bulldogs had finished 8-5 in Kirby Smart’s first season as head coach. While Alabama and Clemson battled for the national championship, the Bulldogs had already begun winter workouts.
“No one expected us to be here except us,” senior outside linebacker Davin Bellamy said.
Then the season started. Starting quarterback Jacob Eason got hurt in the first game. Jake Fromm replaced him, and the offense hummed. Georgia went to Notre Dame and won. It demolished its SEC opponents. It reeled off nine straight wins and found itself No. 1 in the polls for the first time since the 2008 preseason.
Expectations grew.
Georgia lost to Auburn, reset, then won the SEC Championship for the first time since 2005. Then it won the Rose Bowl in double-overtime. For two quarters, Georgia controlled the national championship.
It led 13-0 at halftime. But the game began to slip away in the third quarter as Alabama freshman Tua Tagovailoa piloted the Tide to a comeback. When Tagovailoa threw to a wide-open DeVonta Smith, Georgia knew it had lost. Seniors Nick Chubb and Sony Michel kneeled as crimson and white confetti fell on their shoulders.
Jeb Blazevich led a prayer group, as he does after every game. When Smart, Jake Fromm, Chubb and Michel walked off the field together, a melancholy chant of “U-G-A, U-G-A” wafted down from the fans above them. Across the field, Alabama celebrated its fifth national championship in the past nine years.
Georgia’s fans watched, unable to peel their eyes away from the source of their pain. Outside Georgia’s locker room, a walk-on covered his face in a towel. Tears welled in people’s eyes.
They couldn’t believe they had come so close.
“The big goal at the end was to win the natty,” junior Terry Godwin said. “We got here and we ran out of time.”
He paused.
“We ran out of time.”
Though the Bulldogs lost the game that mattered most, they recreated the expectations surrounding Georgia football. Even in the immediate aftermath of the loss, many realized what they accomplished this season. Conference championships used to satisfy. Now, Michel said, Georgia’s standard is national championships.
“Looking back at it, we had one hell of a season,” sophomore Tyler Simmons said. “We'll be back.”
This story was originally published January 9, 2018 at 2:35 AM with the headline "The national championship loss hurts, but Georgia knows what it accomplished this season."