By BJ Bennett
SouthernPigskin.com

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Bryce Young didn’t just win the Heisman, he made history.

It’s not enough to simply say Alabama quarterback Bryce Young just won the Heisman Trophy, which he obviously did. Young, given the stage, an SEC Championship Game win-and-you’re-in-the-playoff setting, and the opponent, facing top-ranked Georgia which had perhaps the most dominant defensive regular season in a generation, just had one of the greatest performances in college football history.

Of all of the games ever played, Young just played one of the best.

Young, the contest MVP, promptly set a new SEC Championship Game record with 421 passing yards, adding three passing scores and a rushing touchdown. Down 10-0 early, Young sparked a stunning 38-7 Alabama run with a 67-yard scoring strike to Jameson Williams. He, on the very next drive, found John Metchie III for a 13-yard touchdown. With Metchie out for the second half due to injury, Young went right back to Williams on a 55-yard heave to the endzone to open the third quarter. For good measure, Young even added 40 rushing yards, an 11-yard touchdown run included.

For overall context, Georgia had allowed only two offensive scores through the first 40 minutes of 12 previous games all season; Young doubled that total on the Crimson Tide’s first drive of the second half.

In what has been an All-American season for Young, his latest effort was an all-time performance. Young will become Alabama’s first quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy by, in part, playing a game on Saturday that few even thought was possible.

The Bulldogs entered Saturday ranked number one in scoring defense, somehow leading the category by more than a full touchdown. Additionally, the Bulldogs were number one in total defense and, specifically, tops in the game in pass defense efficiency, also pacing college football with just five passing touchdowns and 4.9 yards per attempt allowed. Georgia, furthermore, slotted number one in redzone defense and had given up the fewest plays of ten and 20 yards in the country, surrenduring the fewest pass plays of ten yards or more by a wide margin. Oh, the Bulldogs also ranked in the top five nationally in sacks.

Against that heralded defense, Young didn’t just win the Heisman, he made history.

Remarkably, Young was at his best on the big stage. Correspondingly, Alabama is now the SEC Champion once again and in position to win yet another national title. Taking down the number team in the game and doing so in convincing fashion, the Crimson Tide, previously number three, may very well be the new top-ranked team in the College Football Playoff when the final field is announced. Needless to say, Young, still in his first season as a starter, is a big reason why.

Young is clearly college football’s most outstanding player. His showcase in the SEC Championship Game was one for the ages.