College Football Old School Game of the Week: Stafford Throws Walk-off OT TD to Give Dawgs Win over Bama

Georgia wide receiver Mikey Henderson catches the game-winning TD against Alabama in 2007.

When the #22 Georgia Bulldogs traveled to Tuscaloosa, Alabama to face the #16 Alabama Crimson Tide in a primetime top-25 SEC showdown, many Alabama fans were expecting a victory as they felt their beloved Crimson Tide would continue on their rise back to the top of the SEC and the country as they had hired Nick Saban away from the Miami Dolphins in the offseason.

Alabama was excepting Saban, who had led SEC rival to LSU to the 2003 national championship, to lead the Tide back to glory.

Things got off to a great start as the Tide won their first three games of the season, including a 41-38 win over Arkansas and Heisman Trophy runnerup Darren McFadden, when quarterback John Parker Wilson hit Mike Caddell for the game-winning touchdown pass with eight seconds left.

While Bama came in rolling, Georgia came in with a 2-1 record as they had been stunned by South Carolina two weeks earlier.

Led by head coach Mark Richt, the Dawgs had an offense that featured sophomore Matthew Stafford at quarterback, senior Thomas Brown at running back, and redshirt freshman Knowshon Moreno who had captured Georgia fans' eyes with his performance through the first three games of the season.

The Dawgs would need Stafford, Brown, and Moreno to put on top of their game if they were going to come out of Tuscaloosa with the win.

Georgia would get the ball at their 30-yard-line to start the game and came out throwing as Stafford would throw passes on the Dawgs' first four passes, which included a 18-yard completion to Mohammad Massaquoi on the game's first play, then hit Sean Bailey for 20 yards on a 3rd & 8 to put Georgia at the Tide 30-yard-line.

Stafford would convert on two more 3rd down situations, first connecting with Moreno for 12 yards on 3rd & 6 from the 26-yard-line, then found Brown for a 10-yard touchdown on 3rd & 8 to give the Dawgs a 7-0 lead with 9:30 left in the first quarter.

After forcing the Tide to punt on their opening possession of the game, the Dawgs got the ball at their 28-yard-line where after four straight running plays picked up 12 yards on four straight running plays to set up a 3rd & 9 from the Georgia 40-yard-line.

This time, Stafford would not convert as he was intercepted by Alabama cornerback Lionel Mitchell, whose seven-yard runback seemed to give the Tide the ball at the Georgia 46-yard-line, only for fellow defensive back Kareem Jackson be called for a personal foul penalty after the interception, pushing the Tide back 15 yards to their 39-yard-line.

The Georgia defense would force a three-and-out to get the ball back at their 15-yard-line where they held the ball for the rest of the first quarter until they were forced to punt on the second play of the second quarter, giving Bama the ball at their 27-yard-line.

The Tide would drive into Georgia territory for the first time in the game as Wilson threw passes of 11 yards to Mike McCoy and then a 20-yarder to D.J. Hall to give Bama a 1st down at the Georgia 39-yard-line.

Three plays later, the Tide were faced with a 4th & 1 situation at the Georgia 30-yard-line when Saban decided to go for it.

Saban's gamble did not pay off as Georgia defensive end Marcus Howard's rush of Wilson caused him to throw an incomplete pass to give the Dawgs the ball back at their 30-yard-line.

From there, the Dawgs would drive 42 yards in 10 plays, which included Stafford hitting Brown for 12 yards and Kris Durham for 19 yards, to set up a 45-yard field goal by Brandon Coutu to increase Georgia's lead to 10-0 with 6:21 left in the second quarter.

Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford would complete 19 of 35 passes for 224 yards and throw two touchdowns but also threw two interceptions.

It seemed like the first half was going to end with the Dawgs on top 10-0 as both teams traded punts until the Tide got the ball with 39 seconds left at their 30-yard-line when the Tide put together their best drive of the half as Wilson connected with McCoy four times for 31 yards to set up Leigh Tiffin's 40-yard field goal as time expired to cut Georgia's lead to 10-3 as the first half came to a close.

The Tide were set to get the ball to start the second half but Jonathan Lowe fumbled the opening kickoff which was recovered by Georgia linebacker Brandon Miller at the Alabama 27-yard-line, giving the Dawgs an excellent opportunity to increase their lead.

However, the Bama defense would force the Dawgs to go backwards five yards on three plays and settle for a 50-yard field goal attempt by Coutu, which was short and no good to keep it a 10-3 game.

The Tide would go three-and-out on their opening possession of the second half, but will quickly get the ball back as free safety Rashad Johnson intercepted a Stafford pass and returned it 26 yards to the Georgia 37-yard-line.

From there, the Tide handed the ball to running back Terry Grant, who ran for six yards on 1st down, then 30 yards on 2nd down, to set up Wilson's one-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 10 with 10:15 left in the third quarter.

The Dawgs would respond with a nine-play, 73-yard drive which saw Stafford complete a 33-yard pass to Bailey, leading to a six-yard touchdown run by Moreno to give Georgia a 17-10 lead with 6:08 left in the third quarter.

Following an exchange of punts, the Dawgs got the ball back at their 39-yard-line where they would drive 31 yards in nine plays to set up a 47-yard field goal by Coutu to increase their lead to 20-10 with 12:23 left in the fourth quarter.

The Tide would get the ball back at their 34-yard-line needing a score of some kind to keep their hopes of winning the game alive.

The drive got off to an auspicious start as a holding penalty on Grant pushed the Tide back 10 yards and into a 2nd & 14 situation.

However, Wilson would find Keith Brown for 22 yards and a 1st down at the Georgia 48-yard-line.

Several plays later, the Tide would be faced with a critical 4th & 7 from the Dawgs' 34-yard-line when Saban decided to go for the 1st down.

Wilson's pass for Hall fell incomplete, but Georgia defensive back Prince Miller would get called for pass interference to give the Tide a 1st down at the Dawgs' 28-yard-line.

Wilson would connect with Hall for 21 yards on the next play from scrimmage to set up 1st & goal from the seven-yard-line but would only pick up two more yards before settling for a 22-yard field goal by Tiffin to cut the Georgia lead to 20-13 with 6:30 left in regulation.

The Dawgs would pick up one 1st down on their ensuing possession before punting the ball back to  the Tide who took over at their 12-yard-line with 4:44 left on the clock and 88 yards away from tying the game.

After an incomplete pass to Hall on 1st down, Wilson connected with Keith Brown for 43 yards to give the Tide a 1st down at the Georgia 45-yard-line.

Five straight running plays gained 26 yards to set up 1st & 10 from the Georgia 19-yard-line when a 11-yard pass from Wilson to Hall was nullified by an ineligible receiver pushing the Tide back five yards to the 24-yard-line.

It didn't matter as Wilson hit Keith Brown for eight yards on the next play, which was followed by a 10-yard run by Roy Upchurch to give Bama 1st & goal from the six-yard-line.

That is when Wilson scrambled for a six-yard touchdown that with Tiffin's extra point tied the game at 20 with 1:09 left in regulation.

Alabama quarterback John Paker Wilson completed only 17 of 35 passes for 185 yards, but ran for two touchdowns.

Following a 22-yard kickoff return by Thomas Brown, the Dawgs would get the ball at their 34-yard-line with plenty of time and one timeout to get into field goal range and win the game in regulation.

The drive would begin with back-to-back completions as Stafford hit Thomas Brown for nine yards, then Bailey for eight yards to give the Dawgs a 1st down at the Bama 49-yard-line.

But two straight incomplete passes and an eight-yard run by Brown set up a 4th & 2 from the Bama 41-yard-line with 12 seconds to go.

Instead of punting the ball away and particularly guarantee the game going into overtime, Richt decided to go for the 1st down which he got when Stafford completed a 11-yard pass to tight end Tripp Chandler to give the Dawgs a 1st down at the 30-yard-line.

After Stafford spiked the ball with three seconds left, Coutu would come on to attempt a potential game-winning field goal from 47 yards out.

With two timeouts still in his pocket, Saban burned both of them in hopes of freezing Coutu.

The strategy seemed to work as Coutu's kick was long enough but sailed wide left to send the game into overtime with both teams deadlocked at 20.

Georgia won the coin toss and elected to start overtime on defense, which is the preferred move in overtime so after you know what you need in order to win or extend the game after your opponent's overtime possession.

The Dawgs would hunker down as they would not allow a yard on three plays, forcing the Tide to settle for a 42-yard field goal by Tiffin to give Bama its first lead of the game at 23-20, but meaning the Dawgs could win the game with the touchdown.

As the Georgia offense took the snap on 1st down, Stafford faked a handoff and fired a pass toward the left corner of the end zone intended for Mikey Henderson, who made an over-the-shoulder catch for a 25-yard touchdown to give the Dawgs a 26-23 overtime victory.

The loss would be the beginning of a rollercoaster season for the Tide as they would lose their next game to Florida State to drop to 3-2, then win their next three games, before losing the last four games of the regular season, including an embracing a 21-14 loss to Louisiana-Monroe, before finishing the season with a 30-24 win over Colorado in the Independence Bowl, to finish with a 7-6 record.

Meanwhile, Georgia would defeat Ole Miss the following week, but then would be routed by Tennessee 35-14, before going on a seven-game winning streak to end the season with a 11-2 record and #2 ranking.

However, the rise for Alabama would begin the following year as they would go through the regular season undefeated, including a 41-30 win over Georgia in Athens, to begin their dominance in the SEC as they have won six SEC championships and five national championships since 2009.