Bulldogs linebacker CJ Allen gets credit for the defensive clincher, pressuring King into a long, high throw in the back of the end zone to start the eighth overtime. Nate Frazier then scored on a 3-yard run at left tackle to secure the victory for the Bulldogs. Georgia finishes the regular season 10-2 and will play in the SEC Championship game Dec. 7 against Saturday’s winner between No. 3 Texas and No. 20 Texas A&M. The heroes for the Bulldogs were many, but it was about Jackson that Smart really waxed. “To think that that guy came to Georgia on his own, without us even recruiting him, and to make the plays he’s made,” Smart said, when asked about his strong safety. “That hit-fumble will be one for the ages, ‘cause he wasn’t hitting a normal dude (in King). That guy’s a competitor. And we didn’t even know if Dan was going to come back this year. Think about where we’d be without him.”
Truthfully, there were a bunch of players Georgia could not have been without Friday night. There was the freshman Nate Frazier, who finished with only 50 yards rushing, but those last three through a wide-open hole at left tackle were monumental. There was Allen, who was all over the field in overtime trying to stop an offense that went over in 500 yards in regulation. In addition to 10 tackles and that eighth-overtime pressure, he batted down two passes. There was quarterback Carson Beck, who overcame another slow offensive start and a bunch of drops by his receivers to throw five touchdown passes and once-again finish three yards short of 300-yard game. And there was Chambliss, one among a record-setting senior class that not only never lost to archrival Tech in his career, but also never lost at Sanford Stadium. That group heads to the SEC title game 52-4, tops in all of FBS. All of them, though, were taking knee before the guy they playfully call Dirty Dan. It’s not because he does anything untoward. It’s because he always does whatever it takes to win. Remember the lick he took on Kelee Ringo’s pick-6 in the 2021 national championship game win? He’s the guy that always takes one for the team.
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