By: Joe Delaney

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

SOMETIMES it just all comes together…… For the 2022 Georgia Bulldogs that was the case.

They started the 2022 season ranked third in most polls.  While the Dawgs consistently played winning football throughout the year, they set the stage for a great season beginning on September 3 with a 49-3 pasting of the Oregon Ducks at the Benz in Atlanta.

There’s an old saying “Ducks on the Pond”. Well, the Georgia offense and defense just sat on the bank and picked em off one by one. The country then knew that the Dawgs weren’t back……. they had never left.

With all the talent that had gone off to the NFL, the Dawgs had simply reloaded and Dan Lanning and the Ducks got in the way and got blasted.

From there, it was like Amtrack blowing through Nahunta…… Saturdays throughout the fall the Dawgs would show up. The warning lights would go off, the gates would go down and that Red and Black bullet train would blow through at 60 mph running over anything in its path.

Then, whoosh they were gone. The gates went back up the warning lights went off and all that was left for South Carolina, Auburn, Florida, Tennessee, Tech and the others was a big L……. Only once in the season did the train even slow down.  That was in Missouri and all it taught those Dawgs was to keep going and going FAST.

By the end of the regular season the entire country knew who was number ONE and the Dawgs did too.

It showed again in the SEC championship game when Georgia rolled LSU to the tune of 50-30. BUT……. that great Georgia defense gave up 500 yards passing in the game.

Forget that most of those yards were gotten after the game had been decided. Could the train get derailed in the playoffs?

Well, the one team that could match up talent wise with the Bulldogs got to take their shot on December 31^st in the Peach Bowl at the Benz.

Ohio State had talent and a great future NFL quarterback in C. J. Stroud. Combine that with great overall team speed and a chip on their shoulder from getting their butts handed to them by hated rival Michigan and the Buckeyes came in and played flawlessly.

They almost derailed the Athens Express. After Stetson Bennett led the Dawgs back out of a 14-point hole in the fourth quarter, the Dawgs held a slim one-point lead 42-41 scoring with under a minute to play.

From there, the Buckeyes and Mr. Stroud went to work. With a combination of passing and Stroud’s scrambling, the Nuts drove down the field and lined up for a game winning field goal with seconds left. Looked like the train was about to run outta track.

BUT SOMETIMES things just go your way and a duck hooked 50-yard field goal attempt later the Dawgs were headed to Cali and another shot at the Natty.

Everyone knows what happened next. The Dawgs ran all over TCU like they were a Frog on the train track. It was ugly, fast and ruthless. The largest blowout in the CFP ever, 65-7 and it wasn’t that close. The starters were eating chicken wings on the sideline in the fourth quarter.

So back to Athens with another Natty in hand. Time for curtain calls and happy endings…….

BUT SOMETIMES……. This life doesn’t go the way we feel it should. At 2:45 am on Sunday January 15^th, mere hours after thousands of Dawgs rejoiced in the streets of Athens with the team, coaches, and staff, 2 players and 2 support staff were involved in a terrible accident in Athens.

It claimed the life of Chandler LeCroy a recruiting staffer and OL Devin Willock. It left Victoria Bowles in serious condition and our own Warren McClendon with less than serious injuries.

The joy throughout the Bulldog Nation quickly turned to sorrow with everyone associated with the program stunned by the turn of events. It was just horrible.

Dawgs everywhere will relish and savor this run with Kirby and the Dawgs but there will always be an asterisk placed on the championship parade of 2023.

Two wonderful young people taken too soon. A stark reminder of what is really important to us all.

SOMETIMES……. It just doesn’t seem fair.  Rest in Peace Devin and Chandler.