While walking through the rain up Jackson Street following Georgia’s 52-17 thumping of Ole Miss, I was struck with a realization: It’s been a long time since I walked out of Sanford Stadium after a loss.
The last time, in fact, wasn’t even after a loss. It was during one, on a much more rainy day. Back in 2015, we thought we might finally have the measure on the Alabama juggernaut when we welcomed them for an early-season game—“thought” being the operative word. I sat drenched to the bone through the first half as the Tide put on full display how large a gap there was between the two programs. Trailing 24-3, I resolved to wait to see if the Dawgs would show life after halftime. We threw a pick six on our first offensive play. So began my last unceremonious exit from Sanford Stadium. I had no idea it would be so long until my next one.
That game was the beginning of the end for Mark Richt, while a man across the sideline that day, Kirby Smart, waited to take the program to the top of the sport. Walking out of Sanford on Saturday, another season with an undefeated home record in the books, I couldn’t help thinking about how good we have it.
I’ve missed a handful of seasons between that final year of the Richt era and now, which partially accounts for the gap between losses I’ve witnessed. But even if you go to every home game, you haven’t walked out after a loss since being upset by South Carolina in 2019. If you went to all regular season games, you’d have to go back to Florida in 2020. If you went to every single game, you haven’t walked out after a loss since the 2021 SEC Championship game against Alabama. And then you saw us win a national title two games later.
The streaks we’re on at the moment are remarkable. We’re on a 27-game winning streak, tops in school history, third-most in SEC history. We’ve won 25 consecutive home games. We’ve won 26 consecutive regular season games. We also clinched our third consecutive SEC East title, in the final season of divisional play at that, setting up yet another showdown with Alabama in Atlanta.
The vibes were strong Saturday. I wrote years ago about being tired of having to harken back to Georgia football stars of the 1980s glory days. But this generation has its own stars now. With the fan base’s relationship with Herschel Walker now, shall we say, complicated, Jordan Davis has taken his place as the biggest star when he returns to Athens, as he did Saturday, alongside Eagles’ teammates Nolan Smith and Kelee Ringo. There was also a roaring ovation for Richt, as both he and the fans have set aside the animosity of his final years as coach so he can take up his rightful place as an elder statesman. Even Stetson Bennett, who is somehow the greatest quarterback in Georgia history, made a surprise return to thunderous applause.
This late into the season, it’s been fun to see players begin to come into their own. Freshmen linebackers Raylen Wilson and C.J. Allen were outstanding in relief of the injured Jamon Dumas-Johnson. Kendall Milton, whose career has been marred by injury at every turn, put up a career-high 127 yards and two touchdowns in his final game between the hedges. Nazir Stackhouse got a sack and is starting to burnish his reputation after waiting his turn for years. Carson Beck, who passed for 306 yards and two touchdowns, has come into his own. He forged strong connections with transfers Rara Thomas (54 yards against Ole Miss) and Dominic Lovett (77 yards), as well as Ladd McConkey (81 yards and a touchdown). Oh, and Brock Bowers is already back and caught another touchdown.
I know that there’s still a long way to go for another national title, and that Alabama is now awaiting us in Atlanta. But I want to worry about that later. We just finished another wonderful football season in Athens and we can’t have any complaints. It’s a good time to be a Dawg fan.
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