By: Mike Anthony

GeorgiaSportsEdition.com news services

Winning an FBS national championship has to be one of the toughest things to do in all of sports.

As it stands, the current setup of a four-team playoff for the national title – and decisions that have been made by the playoff committee in choosing those teams in recent years – have made it clear that only the well-known, well-financed, heavy hitters of the ‘Power 5’ conferences have a seat at the table.

And even amongst that small subset, there are myriad hurdles that can derail a promising September outlook and leave it well short of postseason expectations.

With college rosters constantly in flux, many teams (with the apparent exceptions of Alabama and Clemson) only figure to have one or two shots in any five-year timeframe at making a national championship run.

Georgia fans should take plenty of pride in what the Bulldogs were able to accomplish over the last two seasons, but that also comes with tons of ‘what-ifs’ and the creeping sense that another run at a national championship could take some time to materialize.

Georgia saw its perfect storm come together in 2017. The Bulldogs were every bit the national power they were expected to be. They took care of business in the regular season and were able to avoid a date with Alabama in the SEC Championship game, winning a league title before coming within a play or two of upsetting the Crimson Tide in a title game that was UGA’s for the taking.

A wealth of returning talent this season gave UGA the second chance that many schools never receive. Georgia had the benefit of a returning starter at quarterback, a nasty defense, one of the nation’s best kickers and a head coach who was fast becoming one of the biggest names in the game.

But the stars never quite aligned for the Bulldogs. UGA laid a regular season egg at LSU and after keeping itself in the playoff discussion down the stretch, blew a pair of big leads against Alabama in the SEC championship game.

Crazier years in the FBS may have seen fewer undefeated teams or more drama in the closing weeks, but there was little argument to be made that a two-loss Georgia team belonged in the playoff, even as it had given Alabama its biggest scare of the season up to that point.

Such is the nature of college football for the small group of teams that are always hopeful to be in the mix.

It seems to be a prerequisite that a spot as a Power 5 school and at least one marquee win is required for admission into the postseason party.

A couple dozen schools can claim to have that profile at the beginning of each season, but four months of unpredictability in both opponents and team health never fails to lay waste to most of those dreams.

And that’s where UGA will begin 2019.

The Bulldogs will still have a stud quarterback and a hot-list coach. Their kicker will be back again to lean on in close games and the defense will likely be stout once again.

But the window is closing. The list of key graduating starters, early entrants into the NFL draft and transfers to other programs is already over a dozen and may still grow.

Georgia is bound to be a good team once again in 2019, but the cruel nature of FBS football will force UGA to take two years’ worth of heartbreak and force it to start from square one once again with even fewer certainties than it has had in its two best runs in the last quarter-century.

Winning isn’t easy. Even harder is having to fall all the way down the hill after coming so close, only to try and regroup to make the summit attempt once again.