2022 College Football National Championship: Stetson Bennett rallies Georgia past Alabama, wins first national title since 1980 (2024)

Thanks to a pair of late touchdown passes by Stetson Bennett and a game-sealing pick-six by Kelee Ringo, No. 3 Georgia defeated No. 1 Alabama 33-18 in the 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship Game.

With the win, the Bulldogs claimed their first national title since 1980 and avenged their SEC Championship Game loss to the Crimson Tide just weeks earlier.

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Postgame reaction from The Athletic

• Mandel’s Final Thoughts: College football still knows how to surprise — and how to turn out a feel-good story
• ‘We’re national champions’: At long last, Georgia football finishes the drill
• Stetson Bennett’s moment of redemption gives Georgia an ending almost too good to be true
• Alabama had moments of greatness but was not great enough: An unlikely path, a difficult loss and hope for what’s next

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2022 CFP National Championship Game

No. 3 Georgia 33, No. 1 Alabama 18

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(Top photo: Trevor Ruszkowski / USA TODAY Sports)

Nobody asked the question, the most unfair question a coach or player can be asked the morning after winning a championship, when the euphoria is still at peak levels and nobody has slept much and all anybody really wants is to travel back home to see family and friends and maybe visit their two-stoplight hometown to exhale and reflect.

“Can you repeat?”

Nobody asked. Not this day. Not this time. And really, it shouldn’t matter. The most important question related to Georgia’s football program under Kirby Smart has been answered. The need for 6 a.m. workouts and endless runs up the Sanford Stadium steps was affirmed on a single night. The Bulldogs will be at the top for a while. After a 41-year thirst, drink it up.

Andy Staples and I reacted to the national title game as soon as it was done last night, talked about a tremendous season and discussed the state of college football moving forward after the most tumultuous year we’ve seen in the sport maybe ever.

Listen to the latest episode of The Andy Staples Show here.

The texts came throughout the day Monday from friends who either suffered through the past 41 years or — if they were born after Jan. 1, 1981 — suffered for their entire lives. They probably got sent to pretty much every number on the contact list. So much nervous energy had to be burnt Monday before the moment came.

The 2022 college football season should be fascinating, thanks to both seismic changing of the guard in the coaching ranks (Lincoln Riley to USC, Brian Kelly to LSU, Brent Venables to Oklahoma) and the turbo-charged roster turnovers now occurring because of immediate eligibility for transfers. It’s made this annual exercise infinitely more difficult.

Kirby Smart stood on the sideline with 1:09 left, leaning on his knees, as if there were tightly wound springs in his limbs waiting to pop. He watched the play unfold — the desperation pass, the coverage by his players, the interception right in front of him. And then all the springs popped.

He leaped into the air. His arms flailed. As Keele Ringo picked off the pass and began his run to glory in the other direction, taking the ball and the past four decades of the program with him, Smart gave chase, as he tried to catch up with Ringo, screaming at him.

“The sad thing is I was screaming to get down,” Smart said.

The tears came for Stetson Bennett, and they came without warning.

He hadn’t cried in years, admittedly, so it was probably going to take him by surprise anyway. But as soon as he saw Alabama quarterback Bryce Young’s pass land in defensive back Kelee Ringo’s hands with roughly a minute to play, Bennett began tearing up. He didn’t even watch Ringo run it all the way back.

It turns out that Stetson Bennett IV is a national championship-caliber quarterback after all. He’s also an ugly crier, which somehow made Georgia’s storybook ending even better.

And he kept crying and crying, hugging whoever’s shoulder was free on the Georgia sideline as the final 54 seconds of game time ticked away. After it was all over and the Bulldogs had won a title for the first time in 41 years, Bennett walked around seemingly in a daze, a big goofy grin on his face.

Alabama’s had many moments like the one Georgia celebrated. Sometimes the other team is better and you tip your hat to them. Don’t cheapen it by the what-ifs.

Yes, the presence of wide receiver Jameson Williams would have been a boost to an offense that found the end zone only once, but he wasn’t available after what appeared to be a serious knee injury in the second quarter. His absence crippled an offense that couldn’t take advantage of plays down the field and had to work underneath, playing into the team speed of Georgia’s defense.

Georgia exorcized a lot of demons, 41 years’ worth, in pulling away from top-ranked Alabama 33-18 on Monday night in the College Football Playoff national championship game. It’s the Bulldogs’ first national title since 1980.

The confetti hung in the air, small red and black papers that, rather than fall to the ground, just floated around, a physical result of air currents in an indoor stadium, a symbolic allowance of the moment lingering. A moment that so many Georgia fans in the stadium had waited so long to see, through so much heartache, and kept coming back. And now it was here.

The players knew it, too. On the sideline, they were still processing it as the game went final.

“Wow, we’re national champions,” senior offensive lineman Jamaree Salyer said. “That’s what guys kept saying: Wow, we just won a national championship for the first time in 40-some years.”

And now they were legends. That was what they talked about over the last month, being legendary. And they came through, doing it with just enough drama, coming from behind twice, including in the fourth quarter. But also with enough room, a final score of 33-18, to soak it all in with no final-minute drama.

Alabama's 15-point loss Monday was surpassed only by its loss to Clemson in the 2019 CFP national championship game (2018 season.

Alabama’s largest losses under Nick Saban

2018 Clemson -28

2021 Georgia -15

2013 Oklahoma -14

2010 South Carolina -14

2008 Utah -14

Georgia beat Alabama 33-18 Monday night in the College Football Playoff national championship game, and the teams could be in for a rematch next year.

The Bulldogs and Crimson Tide opened as co-favorites to win the 2023 title game at 2-1 just minutes after the season finale ended, per BetMGM. The 2023 national championship is scheduled to be played at SoFi Stadium.

Ohio State follows the pair at 6-1, while Clemson is close behind at 8-1. Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas A&M and USC follow and are all listed at 35-1.

Alabama opened as 3-1 favorites to win next season's title, while Georgia was 8-1. Heading into Monday night, Georgia was favored at 2-3.

Read more here.

The 2021 college football season is finished. A year ago, these rankings started with 76 teams and finished with 127 teams as the pandemic warped the season. This season, we started and ended with 130. We made it to the finish line with very little interruption. For that, we’re thankful.

With Georgia’s win over Alabama in the national championship game, it’s time for the final ranking of every team this season.

In recent years, bowl games have become difficult to weigh for the final ranking. The results matter. Wins matter. But opt-outs, transfers and COVID-19 cancellations must be factored in.

Here’s the final edition of The Athletic 130.

Georgia scored three touchdowns in a little more than seven minutes in the fourth quarter to beat Alabama 33-18 and win its first national championship in four decades Monday night. The Bulldogs' last title came following a 17-10 victory over Notre Dame in 1980.

After quarterback Stetson Bennett tossed touchdowns on back-to-back drives, Georgia's Kelee Ringo sealed the victory by picking off Alabama's Bryce Young and returning it 79 yards for a touchdown.

Young, the 2021 Heisman Trophy winner, finished the game with 369 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions on 35-of-57 passing. Bennett was 17-of-26 on the day with two touchdowns and 224 passing yards.

Read more here.

Georgia wins its first national championship since 1980 when the Herschel Walker-led Bulldogs went 12-0.

Kirby Smart was five years old when Georgia beat Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl to cap that undefeated season.