Blown calls are part of all sports. What’s the most egregious blown call of all time? Recency bias says the latest blown call in a big game is the worst you’ve ever seen. Was it PI? Yes, looks like it. Had the call been made, would it have changed the outcome of the game? Very uncertain.
Does Georgia get an asterisk on this game? Did Bama get an asterisk for the 2017 National Championship since Tyler Simmons was, say it with me, “ON SIDE!” No. Everybody legitimately recognizes that Tide Team as National Champion.
Tyler Simmons doesn’t justify KJ Bolden, but it does provide context. Close, hard-fought games between equally matched teams magnify the calls that are made or not made throughout the game. There were 121 plays in Saturday’s game. Each contributed to the ultimate outcome, but no one play won or lost the game because the next play is determined by the play before it. It’s too hard to unwind the thousands, if not millions, of outcomes that could unfold by changing one play here or there in a game.
Georgia fans have scoured the slow-motion footage and found holds not called, personal fouls not called, and other violations. The main difference between those and the plays we are all talking about today is that Georgia won the game and those plays were not highlighted by national tv broadcast. Had Georgia lost, the significance of the missed calls in their favor would be more meaningful, like in 2018.
Only the losing team takes to the podium to say they were robbed. Most of the blown calls In the Georgia-Alabama series prior to Saturday seem to be in favor of Alabama, and Georgia was the team crying foul. That’s because UGA lost most of those games. Today, Alabama fans are aggrieved because they lost on Saturday.
In some ways, I suspect many Georgia fans are just as happy to see the shoe on the other foot as they were to cheer the win.
Today’s Podcast features:
A quick introduction to the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry
A segment featuring how compelling Saturday’s game was and the historical significance for Georgia in several ways.
Full Breakdown of the officiating of the game.
A full breakdown of how the game played out as I called it would and how Georgia won fairly convincingly when you look at the numbers.
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Go Dawgs!
