If you asked most people who the best team in college football is, even those who know nothing about it, almost everyone in America would say Alabama. For forty years, the Georgia Bulldogs have waited for the moment they’d climb the mountain and be crowned champions. And finally after so many years of painful losses and disappointment, Georgia conquered the college football world.

There were many things that propelled this team to prominence, but the two biggest roadblocks that stood as question marks were their quarterback and the looming Goliath that is Alabama. Georgia’s biggest strength, which is it’s suffocating defense, could easily get the Bulldogs into the playoffs or a New Year’s six bowl, but without a good quarterback to complement their top tier run game, that is all they could achieve. Years of relying on defense and the run game only got them to a couple bowl games and playoff appearances. And when they made the playoffs, Georgia could never conquer the Alabama machine. Alabama’s Nick Saban simply owned the Bulldogs, and when Georgia thought they had them beat, the Crimson Tide would always come up with insane ways to win. In 2018, Georgia not only blew a two touchdown lead to Alabama in the final moments of the SEC championship, but lost to Alabama on a game winning overtime touchdown in the National Championship. Years of heartbreak, quarterback questions, and Alabama dominance finally ended this year.

The story of Georgia Quarterback Stetson Bennett is one of perseverance and determination. He started off as a walk-on at Georgia. Nobody ever gave him a chance and Bennett was towards the very bottom of the depth chart. But when his opportunity came to step into the starter’s role, he took it, and ran with it. The historically good defense, elite run game, and the solid quarterback play of Bennett, lead the Bulldogs to an undefeated regular season. The Bulldogs were ranked first in the nation heading into the SEC championship against their rival Alabama. Heavily favored going into the game, it was seeming like the year Georgia would run the table. However, Bryce Young and Nick Saban led an Alabama team that utterly embarrassed the top-ranked Bulldogs by over twenty points. While both teams made the playoffs, this loss just reinforced old narratives of Alabama dominating Georgia.

When both teams won their playoff games, the SEC Championship rematch would be for all the marbles. Going into the game, Georgia was still the favorite, even though people were calling for a change of quarterback for Georgia due to Bennett’s shaky performance against Alabama previously. The first half was dominated by defense, with both teams trading field goals. In the second half, both teams answered with touchdowns, but with two crucial touchdown drives led by Stetson Bennett after his terrible first half, Georgia had the lead going into the guts of the game. That’s when Alabama Quarterback Bryce Young overthrew a ball to his receiver and it was intercepted by Georgia. Not only was it intercepted, but it was returned for a touchdown to ice the game. The Bulldogs did it, they finally won the National Championship after forty long grueling years. They overcame their two biggest obstacles en route to a historic win against the most prolific team in college football history, and overcame the odds to reach the top of the mountain.