Georgia Bulldogs Countdown to Kickoff: 87 Days
We’re now 87 days until kickoff to Georgia’s 2022 football season with the Bulldogs beginning things in Atlanta against Oregon, and it was in that same building that Kirby Smart and company suffered heartbreak in 2018. Of course we are referring to the National Championship Game against Alabama. ‘But why?’ you might ask. Because it’s always a good day to remind folks that Tyler Simmons – No. 87 – was onsides.
Now obviously we don’t know what would have happened had Georgia blocked that punt and taken over deep in Alabama territory. It was the first possession of the second half, and the Bulldogs were leading 13-0 at the time. Maybe they punch it in for a touchdown to go up three scores. They could have also settled for a field goal and it remained a two-score – albeit two touchdowns and two 2-point conversions – game. So, while there’s no way of knowing the butterfly effect of Simmons’ blocked punt, the so-called bulldog effect says that Georgia probably goes on to win a National Championship.
We do know several things that have happened since that play went down the way it did. Alabama stormed back to tie the game and even missed a field goal attempt to win it in regulation. The Crimson Tide forced a field goal in the first overtime and responded with the infamous 2nd and 26 touchdown to win.
We also know that the head official from that game, Dan Capron, has since admitted to his crew blowing the call.
“We had a miss,” Capron told the Chicago Tribue in a interview as he went off into retirement in 2020. “Alabama was on the ropes. They were deep in their own territory and they’re punting. The punt gets blocked. There’s a flag on the ground because the line judge had Georgia offside. Oh, boy. He (the player, Tyler Simmons) actually had a running start and timed it (properly). He wasn’t offside.”
And while that may hurt Georgia fans to hear after the fact, it also won’t help hearing that Capron, who wasn’t responsible for wrongly throwing the flag on Simmons, missed a false start call on Alabama that would have resulted in a dead ball before the blocked punt.
And finally, we know that Georgia would eventually get its National Championship win over Alabama – just four years after the fact. In between, Smart and the Bulldogs lost three other meetings to the Crimson Tide – later in 2018 also in heartbreaking fashion in the SEC Championship Game, in 2020 in Tuscaloosa after holding a halftime lead and in the 2021 SEC Championship Game when Alabama embarrassed an undefeated Georgia team ranked No. 1 in the country at the time. But, in my opinion, had it not been for the struggles to climb that mountain and beat Bama, the 2022 National Championship win wouldn’t have been so sweet. The heartbreak of Tyler Simmons in 2018 and the trio of other losses made victory in Indy that much better.
Recent Countdown to Kickoff Stories
No. 88 – Jalen Carter with chance to be best UGA d-lineman from 2021 team
No. 89 – Ben Watson starts tradition of Georgia as “Tight End U”
No. 90 – Tramel Walthour and replacing Jake Camarda
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