While I was preoccupied with trying to sleep off a headache after a 13-hour workday, the rest of the world was watching Alabama coach Nick Saban endure a headache of his own.
On Monday night, the Alabama Crimson Tide faced off against the Georgia Bulldogs in the College Football Playoff National Championship, and by the conclusion of their skirmish, it was former walk-on Stetson Bennett who would lead the Bulldogs to their first national championship since 1980.
This despite the fact that he coughed up a crucial fumble in the fourth quarter when he was sacked by Alabama linebacker Christian Harris that allowed Heisman trophy winner Bryce Young to do this:
“I just knew that there would be no way that I was going to let a turnover like that stop us from winning a national championship,” Bennett said after the game. “I wasn’t going to let that happen. I wasn’t going to be the reason we lost it.”
And he wasn’t.
Bennett spent the rest of the fourth quarter channeling his inner Teddy Bridgewater Drew Lock Tom Brady and went 4-for-4 passing for 83 yards with a pair of touchdowns and no interceptions the rest of the way, all while helping his team put up the final 20 points in the game against Nick Saban and his gargantuan ego.
But what’s must-see TV without Georgia cornerback Kelee Ringo intercepting Young with a little over a minute left on the clock and taking it all the way to the house for the longest pick-six in championship game history?
Congratulations, Alabama. You just got your ass kicked 33-18 on national television.
“I told the guys in the locker room, just take a picture of this, because I think back to the ‘80 championship picture and seeing all those players and the Frank Walkers and the Herschel Walkers and all these people that have reached out and said things,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said after snapping the team’s 41-year championship drought. “Our guys have accomplished that, something special, and as they say, they’ve become legendary, and I want that for them.”
And because a celebration isn’t a celebration without a complimentary rapper or two in the building, professional mumbler Quavo of Migos was kind enough to properly enunciate his request from his light-skinned counterpart, Drake:
Also, I completely understand that things can get a bit chaotic in the middle of celebrating a national championship. But to whoever handed out the wrong hats after the game: How many power outlets did you lick as a child?
These are very exciting times.