College football: 25 biggest what-ifs of the 2010s

College football: 2010s biggest what-ifs: 8. Georgia pulls it off

Like most years where Nick Saban was the coach at Alabama, his Crimson Tide ended the year with a National Championship. 2012 was no different.

Nipping at their heels all year long, however, were the Georgia Bulldogs. With both squads destroying the competition, everything came down to the SEC title game. While the winner ultimately wouldn’t be crowned National Champions, they would immediately become the prohibited favorite.

In a bit of a surprise, Georgia took it Alabama. Whenever one team would score, the opposing squad would answer. In the second half though, Georgia appeared to be pulling away, they opened up an 11 point lead before Alabama ultimately roared back. In the final few seconds, trailing by four but on the Alabama eight-yard line, Georgia’s final attempt came five yards short of knocking them off.

What if, by chance, Georgia scored on that final play of the game. Alabama would go on to route LSU in the title game later that year but Georgia was widely considered to be the second best team in the country. A win over Alabama could have put their program in another stratosphere. Considering that Alabama rolled to a 21-0 win over LSU, there’s no reason to believe that Georgia couldn’t have done something similar.

With just a few more seconds on the clock, Georgia would have been crowned SEC Champions and BCS Champions. Would Alabama have returned to glory the following year? Maybe, but it’s possible that Georgia could have gone on their own incredible run.