SEC Unfiltered: Georgia solidifies itself as one of the elites in college football with national title

Welcome to SEC Unfiltered, the USA TODAY NETWORK's daily newsletter on SEC football. Today, trending writer Nick Gray takes over:

Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs got over their biggest obstacles on Monday in Indianapolis.

No longer does Smart have to listen to the talk about his teams not beating Nick Saban's teams. Calling out "1980" is not the burden it was a day ago for Georgia football.

The 33-18 national championship game victory for the Bulldogs over Alabama can unlock all sorts of possibilities for Smart's program.

Think of Clemson, whose 2016 national title game victory validated the Tigers' program and was one of two national titles that anchored one of the best runs for a team in the 21st century, but for a program that recruits better than anyone. This could be the beginning of an all-time run, one that could resemble Alabama's current run under Nick Saban by the end of the decade.

Stetson Bennett will now live on as the quarterback of Georgia's first national-title winning team in 41 years. Jordan Davis is the face of Georgia's elite defense .... that helped the Bulldogs win their first national title in 41 years. Brock Bowers. Nakobe Dean. Kelee Ringo. All those names will go down in Georgia lore.

This national title meant more for Georgia's program than Alabama, not that it mattered too much in the moment. Alabama's Bryce Young had never been the starting quarterback of a national-title winning team, after all.

Alabama had an 18-13 lead with nine minutes left in the game, but Georgia turned it on with three touchdowns down the stretch, including Ringo's title-clinching pick-six. Alabama didn't have its top two receivers for the second half, not that it mattered too much in the moment for Georgia fans.

Any Georgia fan in their 30s had never experienced the euphoria following Ringo's touchdown return.

The public perception of the Georgia football program has been flipped over. Georgia is not a "could be" program among elites anymore. Georgia is.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: SEC Unfiltered: Georgia solidifies itself as one of the elites in college football with national title