I woke up Sunday morning expecting to read news of Israel and Palestine announcing permanent peace, Donald Trump admitting he was wrong about something, dogs and cats living together, and McDonald’s publicly revealing all the intricate mysteries of their Secret Sauce. 

I mean, after all, the Georgia Bulldogs are now the No. 1 college football team in America. Shouldn’t other signs of the apocalypse be in order as well? 

On Saturday, the clouds over the Bulldawg Nation finally parted and a red beam of heavenly light shown down upon us. Oh — and Alabama lost, too. To an unranked opponent. 

What was that about apocalyptic signs again? 

Due to that inexplicable event and the fact that the Dawgs have been stomping a mudhole in everyone they’re playing, the door has now been opened for the Georgia Bulldogs — yes, those Georgia Bulldogs — to step into a position we haven’t been in in…well, a couple of generations. 

The last time Georgia was ranked No. 1 during the regular season a freak of nature named Herschel Walker was carrying the team on his back for the third consecutive year in 1982. You may have heard of him. If you haven’t, then you might as well stop reading right here because none of this will make a lick of sense to you.  

You see, as a Georgia fan, I really don’t know how to feel about this. I’ve found myself kind of wandering around the house, sipping my coffee this morning trying to sort all of it out. We’ve become so used to being second or third fiddle and expecting something to go wrong that suddenly having the centerstage spotlight and everyone saying how good we are just feels weird. 

I grew up in the age of Vince Dooley and Larry Munson, who together conditioned all Georgia people to hope for the best but expect the worst. If you listened to Munson, you felt like it was a borderline miracle every time Georgia won, and it didn’t matter who they were playing. If they beat a good team, it became more of an act of divine intervention than anything. 

And Dooley. I’ll never forget him talking about Vanderbilt on his weekly TV show before UGA played them in 1980: “We will have to be at our best this Saturday, because Vanderbilt has one of the best cheerleading squads in America.”

So you’ll just have to forgive us Dawg folks for having a sense of impending doom brewing in our gut. We’re just not used to this kind of thing. 

Or maybe, just maybe, it’s a tinge of excitement unlike any we’ve felt in … well, almost 40 years. 

Maybe, just maybe, this Georgia team is the one to once and finally end four decades of frustration. Maybe, just maybe, I can believe and not be afraid of doing so. Only a UGA fan will understand that statement. 

We’ve been so close, so very close, so many times, and each and every time Georgia has found a way to tear out our hearts and stomp those suckers flatter than Joe Biden’s approval ratings. 

1982. 1983. 1992. 2002. 2007. 2008. 2012. 2017. There are others. The list of “almost” seasons is almost too painful for us long-time Dawg people to recall without a drink (or bottle) nearby. 

But maybe, just maybe this time it’s different. This team sure seems different. After all, this Georgia team has already beaten the No. 3, No. 8, and No. 18 teams in the country by a combined 81-13 score. Heck, they’ve won all of their games by a cumulative 239-33 count. 

Read that again. 239 to 33. I don’t care who you are, that’s pretty dang impressive. I’d even say that’s almost like Bully-Dawgs. 

And remember, too, that Georgia is doing this without a good chunk of their best players. Seven starters didn’t play in the 34-10 win over on the Lowliest Village on the Plains at Auburn. The second string quarterback and third, fourth, and fifth string receivers had to play. Each of those missing players are supposed to be back on the field in the next few weeks, and this team might get even better. 

Regardless, knowing that we are winning with two guys named Stetson Bennett IV and Ladd McConkey, who sound like they regularly meet in the study wearing smoking jackets with their pipes and bourbon in hand, is reason enough to smile. 

The season is far from over. Undefeated and probably close to top ten ranked Kentucky comes to Athens this week. Then Florida and an improving Tennessee. So don’t get overconfident. We, of all people, should know everything can change in a moment.  

But enjoy this moment. You’ve waited a long, long time for it. 

So who’s that coming down the track? A mean machine in red and black, you say? Right now, ain’t nothing finer in the land — at least according to the polls. 

Smile indeed, Georgia fans, and go ahead get on all fours and bark at your nearest Gator friend. Your Dawgs are now, finally and if nothing else, at least for the moment, on top of the college football world.