ATHENS — Kirby Smart typically doesn’t gush. About Dan Jackson on Saturday, he turned into “Old Faithful.”
And understandably so. No. 7 Georgia’s 44-42 eight-overtime win over Georgia Tech was a consummate team victory and epic on so many levels. But the Bulldogs aren’t coming out of this one a winner if they don’t have Dan Jackson dressed in the red and black Friday night at Sanford Stadium.
There were so many significant plays in this game — 153 were run, in all — but two specifically made by the walk-on safety from Gainesville known as Dirty Dan ultimately proved to be the difference in winning and losing.
- Jackson forced a fumble by Tech quarterback Haynes King on fourth-and-1 at the 31 with 2:05 remaining in the game. Chaz Chambliss recovered, and the Bulldogs scored five plays later to send the game into overtime.
- Six overtimes later, Jackson’s number is called on a blitz. The six-year senior sacked King, extending the game even further.
Georgia finally won the game in the eighth overtime, making it the longest game in SEC history. The longest game in FBS history was Illinois’ 9-overtime win over Penn State in 2021.
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.
That Jackson came through with winning plays in the clutch had his teammates beaming.
“Dan’s just a warrior,” said Chambliss, who recovered the loose ball that Jackson jarred loose from King. “It doesn’t matter if he’s hurt or what the situation is, he’s going to give his all and give up his whole body. Words can’t express what it means to me.”
Chambliss’ presence, like so many others Friday, was critical to outcome. He was the first to recognize that Jackson had knocked the ball loose, and then only after it sat on the ground for what seemed like several seconds.
“I thought the play was over,” Chambliss said. “I stood up and saw the ball and I just kind of dove on it, not really thinking about it. It ended up being a fumble. I didn’t see Dan’s hit until later on the big screen.”
