Last week, we posted how Virginia, Michigan and Washington State all kept being owned by their rivals despite each being favored to win on November 24.
We commented, “Winning begets winning and losing begets losing”
As Georgia and Memphis were to find out to their eternal regret on Saturday, truer words were never written.
In both cases, that truism was applied with maximum cruelty.
Georgia’s previous two losses to Alabama cost the Bulldogs one certain national championship and a second likely national championship (Alabama went on to humble Notre Dame in the 2012 BCS title game). In the 2012 SEC title game, Georgia’s last ditch drive stalled on the Alabama 5. This January, an overtime lightning bolt from Tua saved the Tide.
On Saturday, Georgia held leads of 21-7 and 28-14 late in the 3rd quarter. For the first time this year, Tua looked human as the Bulldogs picked off two of his passes. Despite Tua being forced from the game with an ankle injury, Alabama rallied behind Jalen Hurts. Regardless, there was one ominous sign for Georgia. Their incredible place kicker, Rodrigo Blankenship, missed a 30-yard chip shot. Hurts led the Tide back to 28-28 midway in the 4th quarter. On 4th and 11, Kirby Smart, a truly fine coach, allowed Nick Saban and Alabama’s mystique to fog his thinking. At midfield, why not punt and leave Bama with poor field position? Especially with the mediocre-passing Hurts at QB. NOPE. Fake punt. True failure. A short field for Bama to navigate. Ballgame. A 3rd straight heartbreaker of unfathomable magnitude. You can still feel the pain in Athens three days later.
Unlike Georgia, Memphis had risen from the dead in the American Athletic Conference. Saddled with 3 conference losses a month ago, including one-pointers to Navy and UCF, getting to the conference title game seemed impossible. Yet, the impossible happened in the wacky West. Memphis had come oh-so-close to breaking UCF’s two-year unbeaten streak on October 13th. At the Liberty Bowl, the Tigers made UCF look anemic in jumping off to a 30-17 lead that did not fully reflect the Tigers’ actual dominance. Bad weather came into play, which one might have thought would favor the run-heavy Memphis offense in the 2nd half. But, no, Memphis coughed up the lead to trail 31-30. A promising drive looked like it might yield Memphis a chance to attempt a game-winning field but some poor time management scuttled that possibility.
In the title rematch, Memphis had a huge opportunity because of the tragic leg injury to Mackenzie Milton, Honolulu’s other quarterback superstar. And just like the first game, the Tigers proceeded to pulverize UCF in the first half behind the dominant running of Darrell Henderson. Does anybody run with more angry explosion than Henderson? We doubt it. Does anybody have a 3rd-string running back with the talent of Tony Pollard? We also doubt that. Memphis rolled to a 38-21 halftime lead behind 400 yards of offense. Could backup QB, Darriel Mack, lead a 2nd half comeback in Orlando? The answer was an emphatic yes as UCF rallied to win, 56-41, behind a terrific 2nd half from Mack and 698 yards of offense for the game.
For Memphis, the result was a Knightmare as the Tigers succumbed to UCF for the 13th consecutive time.
As painful as 13-in-a row is for Memphis fans, their heads still have to be spinning in one regard. How is it possible to score 68 points in the first halves of 2 games and then all of 3 points in the second halves?? Short of a mass abduction at halftime, even Stephen King does not have that much imagination to contemplate how that could be.