ATHENS — The Georgia football team was supposed to get an extra day off between playing Georgia Tech on a Friday and then playing in the SEC Championship game on Dec. 7.

But with the game against the rival Yellow Jackets dragging on into eight overtimes — and a finish after midnight — Georgia still ended up winning a game that ended on Saturday.

The 44-42 win was the longest game in school history. The only game in college football history that went longer was a 2022 contest between Illinois and Penn State, which lasted into the ninth overtime.

As linebacker Jalon Walker emerged for postgame interviews, you could see the exhaustion on his face. He did just come from the opposite end of the field, but that’s something Georgia, Georgia Tech and the various media on the field also had to do after every overtime.

“I’ve never practiced that game,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “A couple weeks ago, before we went to play Texas, we did an overtime simulation similar to that, just so the kids know the rules. We went two-point back and forth. I think we added about 8,000 yards, just changing the field.I saw some of y’all huffing and puffing. I figured out why y’all were sprinting back and forth.”

Despite the teams playing eight overtimes, only twice did Georgia convert on a 2-point play. The first came on a slant to Dillon Bell in the fifth overtime. The final one came when Nate Frazier plowed his way into the endzone. Shortly after, Georgia players rushed the field.

“My mind went blank,” Walker said after the game. “I was just very grateful.”

From stressful to crazy, just about every exasperated adjective got thrown around by a Georgia player following the game. Smart called it epic.

That the game went into eight overtimes trumps that fact that Georgia was incredibly fortunate to even be in that position.

The Bulldogs trailed 17-0 at halftime, as they were shut out for the first time in the first half since a 2019 game against Kentucky. With 5:37 remaining in the game, Haynes King rushed for a touchdown to put the Yellow Jackets up 27-13.

But Carson Beck fired a touchdown pass to Dominic Lovett on the next drive to make it a one-possession game. Then Dan Jackson forced a fumble that Chaz Chambliss was able to recover.

Beck found Lovett for a second time and Georgia tied the game at 27 with 1:01 remaining. Georgia’s defense got another stop to improbably send the game to overtime. Per ESPN’s win probability metric, the Yellow Jackets had a 98.5 percent of winning the game after King’s final touchdown of regulation.

“Stressful. But you’ve got to lean on each other,” Chambliss said of the game. “We did a good job of looking at each other and just believing in the coaches, believing in the plans and believing in our own capabilities.”

When you win a game like that, there’s no need for style points. Walker emphatically told reporters that Georgia deserved the win game, even as the Bulldogs gave up 563 yards of offense to Georgia Tech.

And even though the Yellow Jackets scored touchdowns on their first two overtime possessions, the Georgia defense did force Georgia Tech into going 1-of-7 on 2-point attempts.

“Really, we just wanted to win,” Everette said. “We had to keep going out there, it wasn’t like ‘Ah we got go back out again.’ We’ve got another chance to stop them, we’ve got a chance to win the game.”

The back-and-forth nature resembled a tennis match. The distance traveled in the game was akin to that of a marathon.

Yet Georgia found a way to keep its head and make plays when it absolutely had to. On a night when the Bulldogs gave a mostly forgettable performance, it found a way to earn a memorable win in a historic rivalry.

“Up, down, up, down. You know, it’s like a roller coaster,” Beck said. “When the emotions are rolling like that, you can’t ride the roller coaster of emotions. You just got to stay right here, you know? Stay even-keeled. Stay on plane, and just one play at a time.”

As for what comes next for Georgia, the Bulldogs don’t yet know who they will play in the SEC Championship game. That won’t be decided until Saturday night, as Texas visits Texas A&M. The win of that game faces Georgia in Atlanta next Saturday.

That uncertainty should make this Saturday all the easier for the Bulldogs in terms of what they have to do.

Given how late they were up, pulling out a victory from the jaws of defeat.

“We’ve got to turn around and play a stellar opponent, no matter who it is, next week,” Smart said. “And it’s going to be physical. And I told the guys in the locker room, you can rub your bruises and pout and do everything to say, I could have done better, but you better get ready to strap it on and play again.”