Georgia football has won many games throughout these last few years when it felt like all hope was lost, but their 22-19 win over Texas in the SEC Championship may be the game that embodies that statement the most. But when the entire country doubted Georgia, the Bulldogs once again shined on the brightest stage and showed why you can never count this team out.
There are so many takeaways to be had from this game, but here are three that stand out as Georgia celebrates this massive win and waits to see what their postseason path looks like.
1. Gunner Stockton and Georgia's offensive line
Georgia entered the halftime locker room down 6-3 and knowing that Carson Beck was not going to be able to play after hurting his arm on the final play of the first half. So the Bulldogs turned to their backup QB Gunner Stockton, who had not played a meaningful down of football in his college career.
But Stockton more than answered the call, completing 12 of 16 passes for 71 yards and adding some big yards on the ground as well.
On top of Stockton's great performance in the second half, Georgia's offensive line deserves a lot of credit as well. The TV broadcast mentioned that you typically see other players step up when a backup QB has to come in, and that is exactly what UGA's offensive line did. They made life as easy as possible for Stockton and also created a lot of holes in the run game that they weren't making in the first half.
This was by far the best half of football from Georgia's offensive line all season, and it came at the perfect time when Georgia needed it most.
2. Top five game from Kirby Smart
Kirby Smart has had countless examples throughout his career where he has done an elite coaching job, but this game was arguably one of his best. It would have been so easy for UGA to throw in the towel after Beck got hurt, but you saw the entire team rally around Stockton in the second half, and that all comes from Smart in the locker room during halftime.
On top of that, Smart opting to do a fake punt in Georgia's own territory in the fourth quarter was one of the best calls of his entire career. Usually when teams do a fake punt you get a sense beforehand that they might be doing one, but not this time. Absolutely nobody had any idea that Georgia was going to fake that punt, which made it perfect timing for Georgia to pull it off.
Georgia has three more difficult games in front of them if they want to win a National Championship, and all season long it has felt like a long shot that they could win it all this season. But after this coaching job from Smart, it seems very possible that Georgia could win it all this season.
3. College Football Playoff Impact
While winning the SEC Championship should be a good enough reward for winning this game, arguably the most important reason was so Georgia could get the extra rest they desperately need before the College Football Playoff.
If UGA had lost this game, they would have only gotten two weeks off before their first round CFP game. However, now that Georgia beat Texas, the Bulldogs won't have to play again until their quarterfinal matchup on New Year's Day.
That amount of rest will allow Georgia to finally get extremely healthy, which is something that has been a major struggle for most of the season. It also will give Georgia an advantage over whoever their opponent ends up being because they will have played a game about 10 days before this quarterfinal matchup, so the advantage definitely goes to the Bulldogs here.
There are clearly countless reasons why winning this game was such a big deal, but Georgia's position in the CFP is arguably the most important as the biggest goal every season is to win a National Championship, and this Georgia team looks like they are more than capable of doing so.