We’re not even in October, yet arguably we’ve already seen the Game of The Year in college football. Well, at least Round One.
And it all unfolded in prime time, before a nationwide ABC audience, that was at first bored and then captivated as a resilient top-ranked Georgia Bulldog squad, trailing 30-7 to archrival host Alabama at halftime, rallied behind their experienced quarterback Carson Beck to dominate the second half, enough to eventually take a 34-33 lead .
And then, as THE SPORTING NEWS’ Bill Trocchi reported late last night, THIS:
Ryan Williams stood in a white Alabama football t-shirt with a silver chain and a silver cross around his neck, looking every bit of 17 years old. On Saturday night, 30 minutes after thrilling roughly 100,000 people in Bryant-Denny Stadium and captivating millions more on TV with an astonishing 75-yard game-winning touchdown catch, a big grin never left his face.
And as hometown reporter Colin Gay of the TUSCALOOSA NEWS added:
Trailing by a point with fewer than three minutes to go, (quarterback Jalen) Milroe saw the one-on-one matchup he wanted with Williams, who had already exploited the Georgia secondary with a bobbled, circus catch for 54 yards in the third quarter. Milroe looked the safety off, threw up a pass with Williams to the field side and gave him a chance to make the play of his young life.
Williams, just 17, was not feeling the pressure, though. He had done his homework. He knew the equation.
“He know four plus two equal six,” Williams said. “I know four plus two equal six.”
Milroe wears jersey No. 4. Williams wears No. 2. They worked out the math.
Williams jumped up past Georgia defensive back Julian Humphrey, snagged the reception, cut back behind diving defensive back in KJ Bolden and started to run, going 75 yards for a score to lift Alabama to a 41-34 lead it would not lose against the No. 1 Bulldogs.
Not only has Williams become a folk hero overnight, but he’s trending to boot, as USA TODAY NETWORK’ Ehsan Kassim described:
A two-word phrase went viral during No. 4 Alabama’s thrilling game vs. No. 1 Georgia on Saturday. And it wasn’t “Roll Tide.”
The two-word phrase instead came from 17-year-old phenom Ryan Williams, who had the words “kill everybody” inscribed into his eye black against the Bulldogs. Williams’ eye black caught the attention of social media around the third quarter, with Alabama nursing a 30-15 lead. It was the precursor of what was coming in the remarkable 41-34 Crimson Tide win.
So what was Williams referencing with his eye black? It likely referenced Alvin Mack and the famous football movie “The Program.” The 1993 movie was about “several players from different backgrounds trying to cope with the pressures of playing football at a major university.”
In one scene in which Mack is watching film, he breaks down his defensive assignments like so:
“Kill the quarterback. Hit the tight end so hard his girlfriend dies. Kill everybody.”
So now we have a new college football star, in all likelihood a star that will only grow as he matures–at least until he reached voting age.
And given these are two of the top teams in the nation, in the same conference–in fact, the only school that has beaten Georgia coach Kirby Smart since 2022 (three times no less), there is an exceptionally strong chance we will see a rematch in December in the SEC conference championship game. And possibly a third time during the expanded CFB playoffs–perhaps even in the championship game in January.
And I for one can’t wait. Because just as sure as four plus two equals six, one plus one plus one will equal, well, one. As in Number One.
Courage…