On January 1, 2021, Desmond Ridder walked onto the youthful field at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. He fired up his team in the huddle, called out the opening play of the first drive and prepared to play in the final game of the 2020 Cincinnati Bearcats college football season.
It was a vast difference from the Bearcats postseason matchup the year prior-The Birmingham Bowl-in which Ridder threw for 14 completions and a touchdown, leading his team to a blowout victory over Boston College.
This was Georgia, after all, and the Dawgs represented the dominant aura of the Southeastern Conference.