The Infinity Stones

This past winter, the Georgia Bulldogs won the 2021 National Championship.  They are the reigning national champs this year, and I hope they remain so for several years to come.

If this were boxing, they would have a belt to show for their championship, and the belt would be theirs to keep until some other team beat them and took the belt away. I like to fantasize that a new belt is minted each year for the winner of every National Championship Game, and that those winners then have to defend their championship belt or hand it over to any team who subsequently beats them.  That new team has to then defend the belt or hand it over when they get beat, and so on.   

For example, when Georgia beat Alabama in the National Championship Game earlier this year, I imagine that a championship belt was minted for the Bulldogs. But Georgia also got a whole lot more from Alabama with that victory. To understand what else Georgia won, we have to go back several years.

The Odyssey

The story begins, as many stories do, in 2016 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, when the 13-1 Clemson Tigers beat the 14-0 Alabama Crimson Tide in that year's National Championship Game, spoiling Alabama's bid for a perfect season. As a result of their win, a belt for the 2016 season was minted for Clemson. 

Although Clemson defended their belt for the first six games of the 2017 season, they lost to Syracuse by a field goal that October on a Friday the 13th, and Syracuse took possession of Clemson's 2016 belt. It seems like some sort of curse might have fallen on Clemson's 2016 belt that Friday the 13th, some sort of spooky Jason Voorhees mojo, because Syracuse couldn't keep the belt long.  No one could.  

The next weekend after beating Clemson, Syracuse lost to the Miami Hurricanes, 27-19. The Hurricanes were having a pretty good season that year and almost went undefeated during the regular season. However, a few weeks after taking Clemson's 2016 belt away from Syracuse, the 10-0 Hurricanes were upset in their last scheduled game of the season by the lowly, 4-7 Pittsburgh Panthers. If it's any indication of the strength of the Friday the 13th curse on Clemson's 2016 belt, after winning 15 straight games going back to the 2016 season, Miami then went on an 0-4 skid after holding the belt for just one week. They lost not only that last regular season game to Pitt, but also the ACC Championship Game (and to Clemson at that), their Orange Bowl game against Wisconsin, and the first regular-season game of 2018 to LSU.

In any event, Clemson's 2016 belt was then in the possession of Pittsburgh. Despite beating Miami, Pitt didn't make the 2017 ACC Championship Game or even get a bowl invitation.  In the second game of the following 2018 season, Pitt got blown out by Penn State, 51-6, and Clemson's 2016 belt not only went to the Nittany Lions, but went from the ACC to the Big 10.

In 2018, the Ohio State Buckeyes were the dominant team in the Big 10, and three weeks after Penn State took Clemson's 2016 belt away from Pitt and the ACC, Ohio State took the belt away from the Nittany Lions in a narrow, 27-26, win over Penn State.

Despite their dominance, Ohio State held onto Clemson's 2016 belt for only two weeks before falling to the Purdue Boilermakers, 49-20, on October 20th. And then the week after that, Purdue lost to the Michigan State Spartans, 23-13. And then on Nov. 10, 2018, Michigan State lost to Ohio State, 26-6, and the Buckeyes got the cursed belt back again.

Ohio State held onto Clemson's 2016 belt through the rest of the 2018 season, the Big 10 Championship game, and their win in the Rose Bowl over the Washington Huskies.  While that might suggest that the curse on Clemson's belt might finally have been broken, in a controversial decision, Ohio State was not invited to the National Championship Playoffs that year, despite their 12-1 record. One wonders how much of the playoff snub was due to bad luck from the cursed belt.

While still defending the cursed belt, Ohio State went undefeated during the following 2019 season and won the Big 10 Championship game. But then Clemson showed up to take their 2016 belt back from Ohio State in the 2019 National Championship Playoffs. Clemson beat the Buckeyes, 29-23, in the first round of the playoffs and Clemson's 2016 belt ended its long, three-season odyssey through the ACC and the Big 10 conferences. It was finally back at Clemson, where it had all started.

Still with me?  That's a long, strange trip, but the odyssey of the Clemson's cursed belt between 2016 and 2019 can be summarized as follows (don't worry - this won't be on the final test): 

Clemson > Syracuse > Miami > Pittsburgh > Penn State > Ohio State > Purdue > Michigan State > Ohio State > Clemson. 

Flashback: Alabama

But we got ahead of ourselves.  In 2017, two seasons before Clemson reclaimed their accursed 2016 belt, the Alabama Crimson Tide beat the Georgia Bulldogs (sad, but true) in the National Championship Game and a new, 2017 belt was minted for Alabama.  The Tide went undefeated during the 2018 season, beat Georgia (again) in the SEC Championship Game, and then beat the Oklahoma Sooners in the first round of the National Championship Playoffs. 

But Clemson had also gone undefeated during that 2018 season and faced Alabama in the National Championship Game.  Clemson won the game, beating Alabama 44-16, and Clemson was awarded the newly minted 2018 championship belt. With the win, Clemson not only won the 2018 belt but also took Alabama's 2017 belt away from the Tide, so Clemson was the proud bearer of two championship belts - Alabama's 2017 belt and their own 2018 belt. This was a year before they won their cursed 2016 belt back from Ohio State in the 2019 Playoffs, so at the time they managed to unify the 2017 and 2018 belts, but their own 2016 belt was not yet theirs.

The next year, Clemson went undefeated through the 2019 season.  They defended the two unified belts by beating Virginia in the ACC Championship game and, as described above, beating Ohio State in the first round of the 2019 National Championship Playoff and thereby taking back their 2016 championship belt. When Clemson beat Ohio State in 2019 in the first-round playoff game, they managed to unify three belts - their cursed 2016 belt, the 2017 Alabama belt, their own 2018 belt.

But now that they had their 2016 belt back, Clemson found out that the Friday the 13th curse was still active. After beating Ohio State in the first round of the playoffs, Clemson lost the National Championship Game to the LSU Tigers, 42-25, in in the second round (it was the Tigers' undefeated, 15-0 season that year). 

As a result, LSU unified four belts - their own newly minted 2019 championship belt, Clemson's 2018 belt, Alabama's 2017 belt, and Clemson's cursed 2016 belt.

Covid & Bad Mojo

But the curse was still not done yet. No team could keep the four belts for more than a week. In the very first game of the covid-infected 2020 season, LSU turned the four unified belts over to the Mississippi State Bulldogs.  Mississippi State then lost to Arkansas the week after winning the belts from LSU, and then Arkansas lost to Auburn the week after winning the belts from Mississippi State.  After taking the belts away from Arkansas, Auburn lost the next week to South Carolina.  

LSU managed to reclaim the four belts by beating South Carolina, 52-24, the week after the Gamecocks had won them from Auburn. This time, LSU managed to hold onto the belts for three weeks, first by taking two weeks off (remember, this was the year of the covids) and then by beating Arkansas (or maybe Arkansas just didn't want the three belts back again and tanked the game). But on November 28, LSU lost the four belts for a second time, this time to Texas A&M. 

The Aggies somehow managed to keep the four belts for the rest of the 2020 football season (three games, including an Orange Bowl win over North Carolina) and the first three games of the 2021 season. But the four belts finally managed to make it back to Arkansas again, whether they wanted them or not, when the Razorbacks beat A&M on September 25. Possibly due to the curse on Clemson's 2016 belt or possibly not, the very next week, Arkansas lost all four belts in a 37-0 shutout loss to the Georgia Bulldogs on October 2, 2021. 

So as of October 2, 2021, the Georgia Bulldogs were in possession of the four unified belts. Again, that's a lot of information, so here's a summary of the long journey of the four belts after LSU managed to unify them:

LSU > Mississippi State > Arkansas > Auburn > South Carolina > LSU > Texas A&M > Arkansas > Georgia

Another Alabama Flashback

But we're getting ahead of ourselves again.  During that covid-infected 2020 college football season, Alabama went undefeated, including a win over Florida in the 2020 SEC Championship game. They beat Notre Dame in the first round of the National Championship Playoffs and then beat Ohio State in the National Championship Game. As a result, the Crimson Tide were the owners of the newly minted 2020 belt. 

Alabama defended their new belt for the first five games of the 2021 season. However, on October 9, 2021, Texas A&M took Alabama's 2020 belt away from them by beating the Tide, 41-38. A&M had lost to Arkansas two weeks earlier that season, so the Aggies couldn't unify Alabama's 2020 belt with the other four belts at that time.  A&M held onto Alabama's 2020 belt until Nov. 13, when they lost to the Ole Miss Rebels, and the Rebels held the belt for the rest of the regular season.  

In the 2021 SEC Championship Game, Alabama faced off against the Georgia Bulldogs. Alabama, didn't have their 2020 belt at the time of the game, as it was being held by Ole Miss.  On the other hand, the Bulldogs were the bearer of the unified four belts, including Clemson's cursed 2016 belt, after beating Arkansas earlier that season.  The curse seemingly didn't affect the Bulldogs, as they were undefeated that season (12-0), including 7 straight wins after taking the belts away from Arkansas. But on December 4, Georgia lost the SEC Championship Game to Alabama, 41-24, and the Bulldogs had to hand all four belts (including Clemson's cursed 2016 belt) over to the Crimson Tide.  

Despite holding the cursed belt, Alabama managed to beat Cincinnati in the first round of the 2021 College Football Playoffs.  But in the second round, they faced Georgia again and this time lost the National Championship Game, 33-18, to the Bulldogs.  As a result, Georgia not only won the newly minted 2021 belt, but also got the four belts back again from Alabama.  Georgia is now the bearer of five (count them, five) championship belts - the 2021 belt they earned by beating Alabama in the Championship Game, as well as the cursed 2016 Clemson belt, the Alabama 2017 belt, the Clemson 2018 belt, and the LSU 2019 belt. 

The Infinity Stones

The Bulldogs have effectively unified five belts. The only belt missing - the 6th Infinity Stone - is the Alabama 2020 belt. That belt was held by Old Miss at the end of the 2021 regular season but in the 2021 Sugar Bowl, Old Miss lost the game and the belt to the Baylor Bears. At the beginning of the 2022 college football season, Baylor holds Alabama's 2020 belt, the 6th Infinity Stone.  Here's the Cliff Notes summary:

Alabama > Texas A&M > Ole Miss > Baylor

Like Thanos in the Marvel Multiverse, Georgia wants that 6th Infinity Stone to complete the Infinity Gauntlet. But Georgia doesn't play Baylor this year, so they have to hope that Baylor loses Alabama's 2020 belt to some other team. Further, as Georgia and Baylor don't have any common opponents scheduled for this year, the Bulldogs have to hope that Baylor loses the belt to a team that then loses it to some other third team that does appear on Georgia's schedule.  

With Alabama's 2020 belt lost in the insular maze of the Big 12 conference, the belt, the 6th Infinity Stone, might get passed around from shit-tier Texas team to shit-tier Texas team without a true contender getting a shot at it. Texas defenses take longer to rush opposing quarterbacks than the Uvalde police need to overtake a school shooter, so a Championship-level matchup between Georgia and a Big 12 holder of Alabama's 2020 belt doesn't seem likely. It might take several games - it might take several years - for Georgia to get the chance to win Alabama's 2020 belt and complete the Infinity Gauntlet.

Who knows what happens when the Gauntlet is complete? At the very least, it may finally break the Friday the 13th curse on Clemson's 2016 belt.  Georgia appeared immune to the curse during the 2021 college football season, but that immunity may not last forever.  Maybe the fifth belt, Georgia's own 2021 championship belt, will somehow make the 2016 belt unstable again (who knows how these things work?).  And what would happen if Georgia loses the five belts to some other team, or - perish the thought - to another conference?

Georgia opens their 2022 defense of their championship title and the five unified belts with a September 3 game against Oregon.  With the PAC-10 in disarray after UCLA and USC announced their intention to leave the conference for the Big 10, there is nothing (NOTHING) the PAC-10 wants more than to beat the reigning National Champion in the opening game of the season.  Nothing (NOTHING) would be better for the morale and prestige of Oregon football and the remaining PAC-10 that a win over Georgia.  But if Georgia loses the unified five belts, not to mention their own 2021 Championship belt, to the PAC-10 it might take years to get a chance to win it back.

If Georgia can hold onto the unified five belts and win the missing 2020 Alabama belt, it may usher in a new millennium of SEC dominance led by the Georgia Bulldogs.  Or the completed Infinity Gauntlet may result in the annihilation of the known universe and the end of existence itself.  Who knows? Good times!

tl/dr: Go Dawgs!