Imagine not liking college football.

What a sport, what a night it ended up being in Tuscaloosa. The 12-team Playoff didn’t destroy how awesome that was to see Georgia and Alabama duke it out in a September thriller.

Alabama got the late interception to fend off Georgia’s flurry of a comeback after falling behind by 28 points. The Tide closed out a 41-34 victory against Georgia in what’ll easily go down as the game of the year in college football.

Here are the 3 takeaways from Saturday night’s thriller:

1. Carson Beck went from the worst game of his life to arguably the most impressive

Beck was seeing ghosts in the first half. Period. It was a disastrous start for the Georgia signal-caller, who finished the night with 439 passing yards and 3 touchdowns, but the 3 interceptions were costly. Beck didn’t get much help from his receivers early.

But Beck deserves a ton of credit for clawing back and making that a down-to-the-wire game. Overcoming a 28-0 deficit and tying the game at 34-34 was the byproduct of Beck finding his rhythm, especially downfield. His 67-yard go-ahead touchdown pass to Dillon Bell gave UGA a 34-33 lead with 2:31 to play.

Ultimately, though, Georgia couldn’t keep Ryan Williams out of the end zone. Beck came just short of leading Georgia to what would’ve been the largest comeback in school history.

2. The Georgia defense was punched in the mouth … and it responded

Nobody in their right mind would’ve predicted that Alabama would race out to a 28-0 lead in the first half. Nobody. Georgia couldn’t find an early answer for Jalen Milroe, who got whatever he wanted with his arm and his legs in the first half. Alabama had 355 first-half yards against a Georgia defense that looked stunned.

For the vast majority of the second half, the Tide had nothing doing in the second half. Kirby Smart and Glenn Schumann dialed up the right adjustments to contain the Alabama running game, but containing Williams proved to be a different challenge.

Williams’ 75-yard touchdown spoiled what was a banner second half for the UGA defense.

3. Next up for Georgia? Payton Thorne

Auburn hasn’t won in Athens since 2005. One would think that the Dawgs defense that we saw in the second half will have a much better chance of making it a frustrating day at the office for Thorne, who had plenty of success with his legs in that matchup last year.

Still, facing an Auburn team that’s in free-fall will be a welcome sight after that thriller.