The redemption run continues

On the final, glorious football play of the 2018 Rose Bowl, Sony Michel completed his own redemption journey on this magical mystery tour that is the still-unfolding Bulldog season.

Michel’s jaunt measured a mere 27 yards, but its worth far outweighed its length. It ended a wrenching College Football Playoff semifinal, earning for the University of Georgia a place in the title game, by virtue of a 56-48 comeback win over Oklahoma.

Michel’s touchdown run was entirely in character. This proved to be the penultimate game of a career that adds up to a resume equaled by few and surpassed mathematically only by two of his UGA predecessors.

If you are interested in the raw numbers, he traversed 181 yards over the beautiful Rose Bowl turf on a mere 11 attempts. Counting a pass from his precocious quarterback, Michel reached the Promised Land four times.

But for a while, it appeared that he might go home remembering one disastrous carry.

Midway in the fourth quarter, he had uncharacteristically fumbled the football. Oklahoma defender Steven Parker was fortuitously in the neighborhood and was able to scoot 47 yards with the pilfered pigskin, rallying his Sooners to a 45-38 lead.

In his four years, Michel has been entrusted with the football hundreds of times, enough to cover 3,540 yards. Usually, he has responded with alacrity and dependability. In fact, we learned after his ill-timed fumble, that he had not lost a fumble since his freshman season.

Well, this has been the year of redemption for Georgia, avenging the blemishes of Kirby Smart’s first season. Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Florida, Georgia Tech—victors last year—became the vanquished this year by a combined 168-28 score. Only Ole Miss by virtue of scheduling escaped payback, and perhaps their in-state rival Mississippi State took the punishment instead.

The theme continued in the SEC championship game when the Bulldogs were presented the opportunity to avenge the lone blot on this year’s slate, a 40-17 embarrassment at Auburn. So Georgia won the one that counted, 28-7, earning its placement in this toddler of a playoff system. So we arrive at this point of the season, and only two teams in the nation have beaten everybody on their schedule: Central Florida and Georgia.

As if the buildup to a semifinal game on the hallowed Rose Bowl grounds is not enough drama, a soap opera played out through the week regarding the Sooners’ talented quarterback, Baker Mayfield. He shows promise for those clever Heisman commercials.

Mayfield was afflicted with a mysterious illness. Confession: his history fostered thoughts that perhaps the young man was at first dealing with the effects of a hangover. But there was ample evidence to the contrary that he was dealing with an upper-respiratory ailment. Hoarseness is a challenge in these days of audible calls.

Mayfield showed no signs of illness Monday. He navigated his team to a “name-your-score” 31-17 halftime lead. He even managed to catch a touchdown pass.

That was very nearly the last demonstration of his considerable skill. What looked easy in the first half became difficult in the second half.

Meanwhile, across the field, his opposite, Jake Fromm performed admirably. Yes, he reminded us with a “what-were-you-thinking” backwards pass under pressure that he is a freshman. But honestly, he is not an ordinary freshman. The world is his stage, and if he has found the limits of his comfort zone, they have yet to be seen.

So in the Granddaddy of Them All, with a championship season on the line, Fromm directed a 59-yard scoring drive in seven plays, leaving just 55 seconds for Mayfield to answer.

Curiously, or not, little was asked of either quarterback in the overtimes. Coaches Kirby Smart and Lincoln Riley—sharing three years of head coaching experience between them—opted for a very conservative approach.

The handwriting was on the wall for the Sooners when Lorenzo Carter—who under different circumstances might have been counting his NFL money by now—swiped an Oklahoma field goal try. As it developed, Georgia would have won the game even without the block, but it certainly put a different spin on things when the Bulldog offense took the field.

And so, on the last play, Michel ran from the Wild Dawg formation, a plain announcement of an infantry advance. The aforementioned Fromm blocked like an expert, and Michel strolled unbruised into Bulldog history, into college football history.

There remains yet one more contest, and if you are looking for redemption, just remember that the last time Georgia and Alabama played under a roof in Atlanta, five years ago, a tipped pass in the last five seconds robbed the Bulldogs of a chance to play for a national title.

Well, if you can look on the other side of the bus, you would note that they tore that building down. And Georgia is undefeated in the new place. Against an Alabama school.