Georgia Review: It Was All Made Right

My plan was to wait until the feeling I get every time I watch Ricardo’s catch subsided a little before writing this. I didn’t want to sound like a giggly little girl or an awesome catch fan boy, so I waited. As you can see, it’s Thursday. The play happened Saturday. The feeling is still not gone.

I still watch the play multiple times a day, whether it’s the tv broadcast, the sideline view, or the slo-mo version. The feeling is still not gone. But I’ll write this anyway.

I went into Jordan-Hare Stadium with a confidence level rivaling the Titanic. It was huge, loud, brash, and braggadocios. There was no way Auburn was going to lose to Georgia again. Georgia deserved to lose. Auburn deserved to win. It was in the cards.

The fact that I wasn’t overly cheering touchdowns because I expected them to happen showed just how I felt. It did bother me that some drives ended in short field goals, but they wouldn’t matter. The better Auburn team was beating a downtrodden Georgia.

Auburn was running all over the best rush defense they had faced. Auburn was passing when they had to, but not nearly as much as everyone said they would have to to beat Georgia. The defense was sacking Aaron Murray and all was right in the game.

I continued to feel that way for a little more than three quarters. Well, really until the last quick drive of the 2nd quarter that resulted in a Georgia field goal. It showed Aaron Murray was getting in a rhythm, and it scared me — rightfully so because Georgia scored on their first drive of the 2nd half as well. My Titanic-sized confidence began to sink a little.

But no worries, the Carpathia, I mean Nick Marshall answered right back and Auburn was up 17 points with a quarter-and-a-half to play. The game wasn’t over, but it was in hand.

Then, there was another field goal to start the 4th quarter for Auburn. A touchdown would have put the game away, but that didn’t happen. Instead, the Auburn offense went in a slight shell, somewhat understandably due to the lead, and the Georgia offense turned into the Denver Broncos.

Aaron Murray is the best true pocket-passing quarterback in the SEC and he showed it Saturday. Georgia’s offense is NFL to the core. It’s all about timing, quick passes, and taking random shots down the field. Aaron Murray runs this perfectly, which is how Georgia was able to score back-to-back-to-back touchdowns in around 8 minutes. Well, two touchdowns and a gift from the replay booth.

On the final Georgia “touchdown,” the line judge that called the score took plenty of time to make the call. Why? Because he wasn’t sure, but he threw his hands up anyway, meaning that the touchdown would have to be overturned with direct proof from the video. Apparently there wasn’t direct proof, or the replay official couldn’t put two-and-two together with the two shots they showed side by side to show Murray’s knee down with the ball on the non-scoring side of the goal line. But whatever, the football gods made it right.

@BabyBlogle attended the game and was a perfect little 4-year-old angel, right up until 4th-and-18. At that point, after 700 CBS commercials, he proclaimed that he was ready to go. It was at this point that I realized that I had doubt that the play was going to go well for Auburn, because I told him something to the effect of we’ll leave in a few minutes because it would probably be the last play. I was wrong.

We sit in the North end zone, right down the middle of the uprights, and when Nick Marshall let the pass go, it honestly looked like it had slipped out the right side of his hand. Someone behind me yelled “WHO IS HE THROWING TO?!” He was throwing to Ricardo Louis.

The ball bounced off an angel’s wings, an angel there to right the wrong of Murray’s fake touchdown, and it was delivered into the hands of Ricardo. Seriously, though, regardless of what it took to get the ball past the Georgia defenders, the fact that Ricardo was able to catch the ball in full stride after tipping it his way with his finger tips is being overshadowed by “luck.” He made a great play. He took advantage of what was given to him in a very difficult way.

The play was going away from us so all I could really see was that the ball had been batted around. The South end zone’s reaction told me that something good happened. After a second to make sure it was real life, I stepped on the seat in front of me and let out 10 second bursts of the loudest noise my throat could make. I did this for about a minute while slinging @BabyBlogle around. I then told him that it was the best play he’ll ever see in that stadium.

I saw a grown man cry. I saw strangers hugging each other. I saw stars from the amount of exuberance I let forth.

It is, so far, the greatest play I’ve seen in that stadium or anywhere. The 4th quarter was the greatest, although one of the worst at times, that I’ve ever seen. It meant so much to this team. It meant so much to this season. It meant so much to the fans. It showed so much to the nation.

Auburn has been in the spotlight since that play. The haters call it luck. The ones without a dog in the fight call it amazing. It might be a little of both.

All I know is that I was there and Auburn beat Georgia. Just as they should.