ATLANTA — It was Nov. 16, 2002, a cold day at Auburn. On fourth-and-15 with 1:25 left, David Greene threw long for Michael Johnson, who outjumped Horace Willis, who didn’t jump. On that day of deliverance, coach Mark Richt said his Bulldogs “knocked the lid off the Georgia program.”
And they did, sort of. That famous play — 70-X-Takeoff — gained Georgia its first berth in an SEC Championship game, in which it annihilated Arkansas. After 20 years without a conference title, the Bulldogs were back in the high life. They again were nationally relevant.
And yet, try as he might, Richt couldn’t make Georgia a national champion. He was fired after a 15-year tenure that was a success in every other way. In came alumnus Kirby Smart, who nearly won it all in his second season. But Tua Tagovailoa found DeVonta Smith on second-and-26. Everything went ka-blooey again.
