'It's just getting started:' In Athens, a community celebrates the birth of a dynasty
ATHENS, Ga. — From the moment you hit South Milledge Avenue Monday afternoon, it was evident Athens spent most of the first full weekend of 2023 preparing for a party.
Homes dotting the historic street flew Georgia flags or signs and lawns were filled with inflated Bulldogs and hand-painted homages to the school’s cherished football cheers, from “Hunker Down!” to “Sic ’em, Junkyard Dawgs.” By 3 pm, swarms of students and families alike lined College Avenue, perusing Georgia’s downtown shops and enjoying a midafternoon meal. Other folks stopped and shopped at The Red Zone on Clayton Street, purchasing pullovers to battle the January cold or snagging on-sale merchandise from Georgia’s 42-41 New Year’s Eve Peach Bowl win over Ohio State. As midafternoon turned to late afternoon, crowds swelled and Athens’ finest dutifully began redirecting traffic and putting up barricades at College Avenue and East Clayton Street. Local bars began to open their doors. Music boomed from shops and outdoor speakers.
Athens, the oldest and most charming of the south’s many treasured college towns, was steadying itself for a community celebration. There would be no star-crossed, sullen, 14,984-day wait this time around. Just 364 days after the last great Georgia party, revelry would again rule the night at the University of Georgia.
Not even the town’s historic Victorian architecture was immune. As Georgia stormed to a 38-7 halftime lead against overwhelmed TCU, columns on buildings were draped with Bulldogs’ flags or covered with hanging strings of red and black confetti paper. Fireworks that periodically illuminated the sky revealed matching Georgia helmets adorning the lamps on the University of Georgia arch.
Strolling the streets and then, at least initially, settling in at Blue Sky Bar, I soaked in the scene. As a University of Florida alum who grew up in Atlanta, I’ve always felt a bit like an outcast in Athens, a place Georgians who leave the state for college rarely go and Gators find themselves even less often. But any self-respecting southerner admires Athens, the vibrant little community at the crossroads of rustic Georgia and the road to Atlanta, and any self-respecting college football fan or writer respects what Kirby Smart has so meticulously built at his alma mater. To be there on a night when Georgia ushered in the latest of the SEC’s football dynasties was special, and that was the sense I got on a sun-splashed Athens afternoon even before toe met leather in Los Angeles and Kirby’s imperious Georgia “went hunting” for dinner.
Michelle Boatwright, a second-year Georgia masters student, was the first to sit on the rooftop after me, nursing a Goslings Dark and Stormy. Sitting with her housemate, Victoria Woods, a local schoolteacher and Georgia alumna, Boatwright lamented not making the journey to LA.
“I should be out there, really,” Michelle told me two hours before kickoff, kindly mentioning her affection for Saturday Down South in the process. “I’ve been to 8 games this season while crafting a masters thesis, and making it 9 would have been special. But I experienced the Athens party a year ago, and we’re in for a treat if things go the way I think they’ll go.”
As the bar slowly filled up and a projector screen was quickly assembled outside, Boatwright reflected on a lifetime of cheering on the Dawgs with her dad, a farmer in Ashburn, Georgia.
“When I went to get an undergraduate degree at (Georiga) Southern, I think I almost broke his heart,” Boatwright said. “He has 3 daughters, and I was the one who loved football. As a little girl, I cried when David Greene and the Dawgs lost to the Gators in 2002. I danced circles with my dad in our living room when we sacked Tua on 1st-and-10 in overtime in (January) 2018. We fell to the floor and I burst into tears a play later. To win last year, and to be here again this year, there’s enough of us who will never take any of this for granted.”
It’s people like Michelle and her dad who make college football special, I think, as the sun slowly fades and the streets become a mob scene of controlled chaos, with fans filing into watering holes and restaurants or trudging toward Stegeman Coliseum for a university-sponsored watch party.
At Cutter’s, I meet Jason Tyler, a senior journalism student from Atlanta. He asks what a “Florida homer writer” like me is doing in Athens, and I offer to buy him a cold beer. He agrees and after a lengthy wait on an overwhelmed bartender, we are served just as Adonai Mitchell outwrestles a TCU defender on a 22-yard strike from Stetson Bennett to put the Dawgs up a staggering 31 points just before halftime.
ADONAI MITCHELL ONE-HANDED CATCH ?#NationalChampionship pic.twitter.com/EPLMfBGNlX
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) January 10, 2023
“What a catch!” I yell, not knowing it will set off a Stetson Bennett appreciation soliloquy from Jason, which sends me frantically searching for my sound recording device. I tap record three sentences in and Tyler, like a Todd Monken offense, is humming.
“Week after week, you know? Stetson can’t do this and Stetson can’t do that and the local beat writer could win a natty playing quarterback at Georgia with that defense. It’s utter nonsense. Look, you’re an SEC guy. We’ve had some of the best quarterbacks ever to play the sport in this league. Think about the last 10 years alone: Cam (OK, close enough, I think), Joe Burrow, Tua, Kyle Trask, Fromm (I’ll allow it, he’s rolling) … and you don’t ever hear Stetson in that group. Well, 2 national championships. Doesn’t that speak for itself?”
Tyler isn’t wrong, and I’m as guilty as the next man in writing Bennett off as a product of a program that has assembled such elite talent at every position that even competence at the sport’s most important position (see, how I would describe Jake Fromm — competent) is enough to help you compete for a national title.
Bennett, however, is far more than competent. He’s a legitimately great college quarterback in a way that Buck Belue never was and David Greene, DJ Shockley and Aaron Murray weren’t quite either. Bennett’s 304 yards and 6 total touchdowns against TCU, coming on the heels of an epic fourth quarter comeback that made Monday night possible, aren’t a product of anything but Bennett’s own excellence. That his excellence is a creature of Bennett’s commitment to preparation, film study and his innate understanding of Monken’s offense more than it is about a rocket arm or NFL intangibles doesn’t diminish the greatness of Bennett. On the contrary, it expands it.
As the fourth quarter begins, I cruise out to College Avenue, where the controlled chaos of the first half has become an exercise of ecstasy and excess. Fireworks explode around me and coeds take video as friends climb light poles and make barking noises. As Branson Robinson plunges into the end zone to make it 59-7, the scale of the party is nearly outsized by the scale of Georgia’s astonishing dominance.
Is this the greatest college football team ever, I ask Teddy Wilkes, a law student from Orlando, whose story is interesting in no small part because he arrived in Athens two years ago after spending his undergraduate in Tuscaloosa, monitoring the late years of the Saban dynasty.
“I don’t think they’d beat 2019 LSU, if that’s what you are asking,” Teddy says. “Does it even matter? Why do we have to put a label on the extent of this team’s excellence?” he asks, and he has a point, I think.
What we know is we’ve never — not even with 1995 Nebraska’s obliteration of a great Florida team in the Fiesta Bowl — seen national championship game dominance the likes of which Georgia displayed on Monday night in Los Angeles. Sure, 1995 Florida was the second-best team, a 12-0 juggernaut with an all-time great college quarterback and a genius head coach. TCU was, well, TCU, not the second-best team or even the fifth-best team, probably, but certainly deserving of a College Football Playoff berth and absolutely a very good team. And that’s the thing: Georgia pummeled the team put in front of them.
Before Georgia scored again, Wilkes’ girlfriend, Melissa Sullivan, a UGA nursing student, rightly suggests that is what matters.
“You can only beat who you have to play. It isn’t Georgia’s fault Michigan choked in the semifinal. It isn’t Georgia’s fault that Alabama lost 2 games and didn’t deserve to get in the Playoff this year. What Georgia did was control the controllables, right? It’s 59-7. That’s controlling what you can control. That’s historic.”
It is historic, and as Monday night slips toward Tuesday morning, it’s time for me to find my way to the serenity of a warm bed and away from a back-to-back championship scene I’ll remember forever. On the walk back, I see four students taking a selfie and offer to take a picture of the entire group. Grateful, Ashley Davis, a Georgia junior and economics major from Marietta, provides a final thought that should sit uncomfortably with the rest of the college football universe pondering the longest offseason in major sports.
“It’s just getting started,” Davis tells me. “Kirby isn’t even 50. He’s younger than my dad. Carson Beck is like … a 5-star version of Stetson, OK? (Beck is a 4-star, but at nearly 12:30 in the morning, fine-tuning the facts is for the birds). How many of these guys are back? Brock? Back. Most this defense? Back. Who is going to stop us? Who’s that coming down the track!!” Davis suddenly yells, finishing her thought with a smile.
“A mean machine in red and black,” her friends shout back.
A mean machine indeed. A championship machine. A dynasty in the making. The second consecutive, but not the last, of Georgia celebrations to come.
I think a dynasty needs three titles in times 2 or less years. But when you win the title last year and go undefeated and win it the next year and will be the clear number 1 team pre-season next year that’s quite strong.
I prefer to think of the DAWGS as a very formidable football program at this point. Dynasty is a bit strong. If the DAWGS can make it into the CFP every year and win, then a dynasty will have been built.
Go DAWGS!
The literal definition of “dynasty” is an unbroken string of rulers from the same family (bloodline).
Georgia is literally a dynasty. Just enjoy it, friend.
Stetson Bennett has as many playoff victories (as a starter) as Justin Fields, Tua Tagovailoa, Bryce Young, Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, CJ Stroud and Max Duggan combined.
Isn’t it interesting that Stetson Bennett at 25 years old should not be playing against 18 year olds…
Leave college and go get a job at the rec center old man.
Georgia fans look like the characters in the movie “Deliverance”.
Oooops… true!
Lol!
How old is Hendon Hooker?
How old is Stetson Bennet? He is as old as Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray, and Patrick Mahomes.
Class of 98……..I love watching your program. You are absolutely one of my favorite uncles!!! LOL
Now could you loan me some CASH???? How’s about a few spare decorative helmets maybe with a little cash tucked in them??? LOL
PS. It can be group of 5!!! LOL
Negan ain’t here today
B E Vol.
Tennessee had not 1 but (9) scholarship super seniors for the 2022 season:
QB Hendon Hooker – 24 years old.
OL Jerome Carvin
TE Princeton Fant
DL LaTrell Bumphus
LB Solon Page III
DB Trevon Flowers
DB Cheyenne Labruzza
P Paxton Brooks
“Oooops… true!”
You might want to do 30 seconds of internet research before you throw stones at UGA. Then, maybe you wouldn’t look like such a jealous child.
That was an impressive win Bulldogs so enjoy it while you can. Don’t be surprised if Kirby shortly gets an “offer he can’t refuse” from the Miami Dolphins, is there for a year then magically leaves to become Alabama’s head coach. It worked once before so, it can work again.
Ellis.
Kirby loves Georgia. LSU, Alabama and every other team won’t get so lucky. Kirby’s at UGA to stay. Might as well face that as a fact…
If OSU makes the kick there is no talk of dynasty instead it’s what do we need to do to fix the secondary. It’s amazing how one play can totally change the narrative. No matter how good you are you need breaks along the way to win it all that’s why it is so hard to repeat. It’s too early to call UGA a dynasty but if they keep up at this pace they might end up being one.
” If OSU makes the kick there is no talk of dynasty ”
engine……And if horn-frogs had wings they would never bump their A…..$$!!! Maybe you need to look a bit closer…..
THE KICK…..
That kick never had a chance!!!! Because for one thing had it been straight, it was BLOCKED EASILY!!!! It was Georgia pressure that made him pull it!!! And unless he knows how to kick a curve ball to get around the defense and back into the goalposts. Then he absolutely never had a chance!!!!!
GEORGIA HAD A TALL GUY IN THE BACKFIELD AND 5 FEET IN THE AIR!!!! THE KICK NEVER HAD A CHANCE NO MATTER WHAT!!!!! Actually Georgia had two guys in the backfield and another crashing from the side with BLAZING SPEED!!!!
IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN A MIRACLE FOR THE WIND TO BLOW THE KICK ON THROUGH ANYWAY!!!! IS MISSING IT BECAUSE OF PRESSURE ANY DIFFERENT. THAN A QB THROWING A PICK BECAUSE A GUY IS IN HIS FACE???? NO!!!!!!
IT WAS A 50 YARD FIELD GOAL….
It was hope and a prayer for OSU anyway!!!! Why? Because OSU may as well have thrown one last pass to the end zone!!!! THAT KICKER WAS 0-4 FROM 50 OR LONGER!!!!! Now he’s just 0-5!!!!!! The FACT is that Ryan Day knew Georgia’s defense was overdue to show up!!!! Had he tried to pass and get closer. They could have taken a sack, fumbled or threw a pick to END IT!!!!!
RYAN DAY HAS SEEN THAT BEFORE!!!! JUST LIKE THE KICK WE ALMOST BLOCKED HAD IT BEEN STRAIGHT!!!!!! IT HAD ZERO CHANCE PERIOD!!!!!!
SO STOP WITH THE IF GAME!!!!! Because IF the normally reliable Georgia kicker hasn’t missed 2 or 3 whatever it was. Georgia would have led by more and wine it regardless!!!! OSU wasn’t close to blocking his kicks. He just missed!!!! IF GEORGIA WASN’T HAVING TO PUT IN 5TH STRING PLAYERS BECAUSE OF INJURIES. I’M SURE WE WOULD HAVE DONE BETTER!!!!!! SO STOP THE EXCUSES!!!!!
We can’t be pulling IF’S out of our backside, just because Ryan Day wants an excuse!!!! OSU LOST PERIOD!!!! They played the game of their lives! While Georgia played a terrible game!!!! And in the end. THE MAILMAN DELIVERED AND THE DEFENSE CAME THROUGH!!!!!!
Tell Ryan Day he should buy a better pillow to cry on. I think the others take tear-staines pretty easily!!!!!
As for IF’S, we can all use them!!!! Example……
What IF the game was called right in 2017???? Then Georgia wins that natty to!!! What IF Alabama isn’t voted in after losing the west??? No other team even gives Georgia a game!!!! What IF Georgia had spiked the ball in 2012 instead of throwing 2 yards short of the goal. Georgia wins that natty to!!!!! If if if if if!!!!!!!
AGAIN IF A HORN-FROG HAD WINGS HE WOULDN’T BUMP HIS A……$$!!!!!!!!
IF Georgia had shown up against OSU like they did TCU. It wouldn’t have even been a game!!!! Just another blowout victory!!!!!! IF Nick Saban hadn’t swallowed a mouse. Maybe he has a catchy snappy little comeback when David Pollack told him to his face. Georgia is taking over college football!!!! LOL
IF you were a Georgia fan. You might have something to celebrate the next 10 or 15 years, if not longer!!!!!! Still you are NOT!!!!! But……
PS. Do not despair!!!! That is what the transfer portal is for!!!!! IF you don’t transfer then don’t complain!!!! LOL
I’m not Negan!!!! LOL
Isn’t it interesting that the Georgia fans will celebrate at the Golden Corral…
Snaggle tooth buffoons…
NO GEORGIA IS ALREADY A DYNASTY!!! Saban has won 1 national championship in 5 years!!!!!! Yet people keep saying the dynasty is alive!!!
Georgia beat Alabama to win it and went 15-0 to repeat!!!! Saban’s repeat team that was coached by KIRBY SMART didn’t go 15-0 in their back to back!!!!
It’s not too early!!!! Kirby is the new King and Georgia is THE NEW DYNASTY!!!!!
PS. Stop making excuses!!!!!!
Negan ain’t home… : )
Georgia also went undefeated this year in the toughest division in college football. The SEC West usually gets that divisional crown, but this year East teams went 8-6 against the West and every east team save Vandy won at least one of their games against a West opponent. Additionally, the final AP poll has three teams from each division ranked, but the East teams are #1, #6 and #23 to the West’s #5, #16 and #20.
It hurts to say it but a dynasty was made last night .. congratulations to uga as not only the back to back champs but the premier program in all of college football . You guys have the same coach as bama at this time just 30 years younger.. a 3 peat might be possible after seeing uga schedule next year
A 3 peat was possible without seeing the UGa schedule, if we play like we did last night…well anyway, thanks for the kind words gf8115…
I agree, “birth of a dynasty” is exactly what this is. UGA will be formidable for years to come.
From all of us at Auburn, congrats on a great game and great season dawgs! Well deserved.
Appreciate your kind words, it was a great season, and pleasantly surprising for sure!
Still not a dynasty.
You’re pretty sharp…hence the “birth of” part. Not all births result in life, sad to say. We shall see. A dynasty in a 12-team playoff world may not be possible, but I like our chances…
It would be interesting to see if the likes of ‘Bama, Georgia, and many others can sustain their success in the playoffs.
It’s definitely going to get much harder to sustain or repeat once we go to the 12 team playoff system.
I may spell the end of any future dynasties. Yes, some teams will gravitate and stay near the top. But winning the NC year after year?
We’ll see.
And for the record, I still think 12 teams is too many. Max should be 8, in my opinion.
I agree. But at the same time, I’m a little fuzzy on when we can rightfully call it a dynasty.
How many times over what time span does a team have to compete for and/or win the national title to be called a dynasty?
I would call 2010-2020 Bama under Saban one…that’s probably a good comparator…
I posted this in another topic, but “Dynasty” is pretty relative at this point. A second title puts Kirby in line with Dabo – do we consider Clemson’s time at the top a dynasty from years ago?
Saban – 7
Dabo – 2
Kirby – 2
Mack – 1
Jimbo – 1
Good question. I would say no but that’s partially because I think a dynasty requires a team to be the one dominant team. You can have rivals, you don’t have to win every game, but you need to be the standard. During Clemson’s run they were working towards beating Alabama, to become the standard. But it was still Alabama. If Clemson had maintained then maybe. But they have regressed since Trevor left. Heck, maybe if Trevor won a second title it would be different.
Right now, Alabama is still the standard. That’s who you get compared to. But maybe, in the future, we’ll look back on this time differently. It all depends on what UGA and Alabama do the next several seasons.
UGA just played for their 3rd title in six years. It’s certainly an amazing foundation. But 2/3 of that was trying to get out of Alabama’s shadow. Last night was the first time the light was truly shining on UGA. And even with that there was a lot of chatter about Alabama being in the playoffs and not TCU. Alabama, not USCw. Alabama, not Tennessee.
Let’s see if one day people say the same about UGA.
I agree and it’s a disservice to Kirby and what he’s built that the media cannot stop bringing up Saban and Bama.
I actually think UGA has kept (or set) the standard FWIW. Or maybe Alabama just “forgot” it.
Yeah. I consider the Gators under Spurrier a dynasty and they only got one.
Shut up 21
naa. I see why the Gators are a sensitive subject for you guys though…what with 1998 and all
WHat? We won against them in 1998.
You speaking just to hear yourself speak at this point.
you’re a talented writer. enjoyed the read.
Great article, Neil. And I personally appreciate all of the very classy and gracious comments from the other SEC fanbases.
More like this please. This is the personal side of journalism that I appreciate and far exceeds stat lines or recycled tweets. I can even overlook the digs. ;)
A cupcake, nose picker, butt scratcher dynasty to be sure…
52-49
27-13. 6 in a row. Back to back National Champions! Can’t win your own division. HBTMFD!
You misspelled champion
Poor little David and his UGA hate…why don’t you go away like your fellow UGA haters Bamatime and Gabriel..
Georgia broke Bama last year. Now their idea of a successful season is a 1 point victory over a terrible Texas team, a 1 point loss to an average TN team, and a 1 point loss to an LSU team that fired their head coach last year.
The real question after last night is whether we can attribute Bama’s previous success to Saban or Kirby. It’s kind of up in the air as of now. Bama fans are getting real nervous because it’s looking like Kirby propped up Saban for years. Cats out of the bag.
Terrible take. Saban won titles before and after Kirby.
Seems like yesterday the Dawg haters was saying Georgia hadn’t won a championship since 1980 and just like that they haven’t lost one since 2020.
19***
Probably could’ve left out the “dynasty” part of the title and led with “It’s Just Getting Started” as quoted from your subjects.
Anyway, a well written article, not so much about the game’s Xs and Os but about the real people in Athens, students and general fans, who relish in this moment even though they had nothing to do with the outcome other than simply cheering for THEIR team. It was personal to the moment in Athens and well done Mr Blackmon.
Afterall, who cares about the “dynasty” let’s just enjoy that the Dawgs have forever lost the demons from 1981-2020 and dang it have topped the mountain twice. That’s 4 Natty’s total and three in my lifetime. I’m gonna enjoy this till September, and then let the Dawgs go hunting again!
Don’t tend to agree with your analysis all the time, but as far pure journalism this was an excellent article.
I hope to see more of these.
Where is crazy Negan hiding now??? All those wild predictions about a 2021 national championship. That would lead to a 2022 SEC CHAMPIONSHIP & A REPEAT AS NATIONAL CHAMPIONS???? All that crazy talk about Georgia being destined to do these things. Crazy predictions about the birth of a NEW DYNASTY!!!!
COME OFF IT NEGAN!!!! JUST BE MAN ENOUGH TO ADMIT WHEN YOU ARE RIGHT!!!!!!! Now the media are all saying Georgia actually has enough returning talent to win a 3rd straight!!!!!! Right, Oh crazy Negan predicted it would happen!!!!
Y’ALL KNOW HE CHEATS RIGHT? He was the guy Michael J Fox played in BACK TO THE FUTURE!!!! He still has that book you know!!!!!
PS. I just hate it when someone is right and they refuse to show their face afterwards!!!! Come on Negan you are lurking unless you are in your time machine!!!!!
Sincerely, BamaTime is da man…
Enjoyed the article Neil. I know there are probably unknown (to me) obstacles but I’d love to read more like this.
Them officials stole that game from TCU with a holding call when they made a first down!!! That game was close and Georgia is lucky!!!!
Poor TCU…. If I was Sonny Dykes I would join Ryan Day’s protest!!!!! The officials always give it to the SEC!!!!
Georgia ain’t in the same league with TCU!!!!! Darned SEC BIAS!!!! As for crazy Negan da Georgia fan and crazy prediction guy. TCU are da real national champions!!!
TCU are da real champs or else David Pollack said Georgia was taking over college football, with Saban looking like he swallowed a mouse right next to him!!!! Now which one of these is true???
PS. Hint Pollack would never say dat to Saban on national tv now would he???? So there then!!!!
TCU-DUDE
Kirby’s just getting started.
And everywhere around the SEC, blood runs cold.
Corny.
No one cares about Kirby.
No one has to care about Kirby for the Dawgs to win back to back and to keep owning the hillbillies. Voltard sure does talk alot after not even winning their own division. 1998. Worry about USCe first.
Let me start this way. Dominating win great 2 year run. Dawgs have every right to be standing on a chair and beating your chest. Proud of you, proud for you.
Dynasties develop over time. Winning 2 championships in a row is not enough time to create a dynasty. But it’s a dang good start.
Enjoy while you got it. I know you think the wheels can’t fall off but they can. 2020 smacked us in the face. – – it happens.
Of course the wheels can fall off any time…who knows what the future holds…that’s why I don’t care about this dynasty talk…I sat through many Saturdays during the Goff and Donnan days watching UGA get smacked …I never thought I would see UGA win another nc …so I’m gonna just enjoy what is and yes hope for what can be…but regardless of whatever the future holds its been a fun two years…
Neil, that was maybe the best piece I’ve read on SDS in 10 years. I’m admittedly biased, but it really had character. Well done – more, please!
Nice article but David Green was helluva QB back in the day.
I’m pretty comfortable with admitting that UGA is the top dawg in CFB and we are likely seeing a team that will compete for multiple nattys in the coming seasons. Only reason Saban has to be considered GOAT is the sustained excellence and willingness to adapt. So far, Kirby has made one excellent adjustment (Monken) and weathered some serious attrition. If Kirby and co win again next year, I think saying uga is the new standard would be appropriate. Right now, I’d say pump the breaks on surpassing Saban and Bama. JMHO and certainly not demeaning uga’s incredible accomplishment.
Meanwhile, Stetson is the best postseason qb in CFB history and it isn’t close at all.
Good point. Bama has been good or great forever it seems. We have a ways to go historically. But who knows what future holds.