INDIANAPOLIS -- On Friday, following the final practice of his career on campus, Georgia senior defensive lineman Jordan Davis wrote what he described as "a little memo" inside his locker, tucked away for the next player to find.
Davis said he wrote his name, a note and the years he played there.
"It's in a little hiding spot, so they kind of have to find it," he said. "But when they do, they have a little message. It's more so for me, so when I come back, I can look at it and say, 'Yeah, that was my locker,' if I have kids in the future or bring my brothers or something like that."
Davis, the larger-than-life, 6-foot-6, 340-pound Outland Trophy winner and face of the Bulldogs' defense, has undoubtedly left his mark on the program, although even he was neutralized the last time Georgia faced Alabama, in the Dec. 4 SEC championship game.
Georgia's defense was pushed, shoved and manhandled up front in a resounding 41-24 loss to the Tide, raising the question of where Georgia's 2021 defense truly belongs in the lore of college football history. Was Alabama -- a team that had surrendered seven sacks to rival Auburn just a week earlier -- really that much better? Were Georgia's jaw-dropping statistics the result of mostly mediocre regular-season opponents?
Maybe it was a bit of both.
The Bulldogs rebounded with confidence in their 34-11 semifinal win against Michigan, silencing some critics with their chest-pounding dominance, but that was against the Big Ten's best. This is different. Alabama has been Georgia's kryptonite, winning seven straight in the series -- including in 2018, the last time these teams played for the national title. How Georgia's defense fares on Monday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN App) in its second shot against Alabama in the College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T will help cement its place.
"Every year, inside the box, the front seven at Georgia has always been relentless," said inside linebacker Nolan Smith, "and we always do things right, and we always play the run, and it's a privilege to rush the passer.
"We say all the time here the best rush is the best coverage, and we've got to get to the quarterback. There's nothing else about it. Last game, we did not do that. And I know a lot of people felt hurt after that one. I hold myself and my room accountable and also the D-line. It's our job as pass-rushers to get after the quarterback and we didn't do that. The difference between this game and that game is we just have to do it. We have to find a way."
A month ago, the Bulldogs couldn't find their way to Alabama quarterback Bryce Young, and the result was a performance by Young worthy of the Heisman Trophy. Georgia, which had averaged 3.5 sacks against everyone else, came up empty on Dec. 4. The Tide's offensive line opened options in both the run and pass game. Prior to the SEC championship, Georgia had held its opponents to a measly 0.33 yards before contact per rush. The Tide averaged 3.2.
And when it came to containing Jameson Williams, Georgia was on the wrong side of the record books. Williams' 126 yards after the catch were the most Georgia had allowed in a game over the past decade. Williams caught two passes of at least 50 yards and utilized his speed in the short passing game.
"Ultimately we want to create pressure," Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning said. "We want to be able to get after Bryce. As far as how to do it, I don't want to give away our secrets yet, but wait until the game to figure that out. We want to generate pressure. And certainly there's a lot of different ways you can do that. And he's really good at avoiding the rush. And they did unique things to protect him. We have to attack it a little bit differently, but how we do that, there's a lot of different ways we can do it."
Following the conclusion of Georgia's unblemished 12-0 regular season, which earned it the selection committee's No. 1 spot during that entire span, the Bulldogs' vaunted defense had drawn comparisons to others that had been historically dominant.
Georgia was in the same statistical stratosphere as 2016 Alabama, 1986 Oklahoma and -- gasp -- 2001 Miami. Heading into December's SEC championship game, Georgia was holding its SEC opponents to 8.3 points per game -- the lowest by any team in conference play since those unforgettable 2001 Canes (7.9).
And then it came unglued.
Georgia lost the turnover battle 2-0. In the second quarter alone, Alabama scored more points on Georgia (24) than any other team had during an entire game all season long.
Smith said the loss was devastating.
"Want the honest-to-God truth? I cried," he said. "I'm 20 now. I've been playing football since I was 4 -- 16 years, haven't won anything. Haven't won a championship. I won a couple of bowl games but anything big, any championship, I never won yet. And that's one thing that keeps me going. That's just something in the back of my head that I know that keeps me driving and I just want to win."
In spite of the performance, linebacker Nakobe Dean said the defense has nothing to prove against the Tide.
"We're just going in with the same mindset that we always go in with, and that's to be elite, have complete dominance," he said. "It's one main goal, and that's to win, so no matter how it happens, how ugly, how pretty it is, one main goal is just to win this game."
It doesn't have to be pretty, but it has to be better.
Davis, who said he was going for a run following his interview session with reporters on Saturday morning, said he has spent more time getting in shape, recovering, icing and "doing the little things." The team has watched more film, he said, and is paying close attention to the Tide's "nuances" on offense. Davis said the SEC championship game "stung a little bit," but that the true identity of Georgia's defense is what fans saw through the first 12 games of the season.
"Alabama, they gave us a little fit, threw a lot of haymakers, and we couldn't really respond like we wanted to," he said. "But with time, you get better, you learn more about yourself as a defense. You learn more about Alabama this time going into the game. So definitely this time around will definitely be different."
If it is, the entire Georgia defense will have left its mark -- and sent a message that resonates well beyond its own locker room.