Watching Georgia celebrate its first national title in 41 years, Terrence Edwards felt a sense of dejá vu.

Seniors such as Jordan Davis, Zamir White, Devonte Wyatt, Channing Tindall, and so many others smoked cigars and basked in the glory of Indianapolis. In his own senior season, Edwards had been part of a similar drought-breaking victory.

That triumph came at Auburn on Nov. 16, 2002. Georgia's win on that cold afternoon gave the Bulldogs their first SEC East title in school history, paving the way to the first conference title since 1982.

Now 20 years removed from putting a ring on his own finger, Edwards sees the juggernaut Georgia has become under Kirby Smart. But without that dramatic win on the Plains, the course of Georgia football history might look much, much different.

"I think, let alone the national championship game, I think that game might be the second-most important game in the last 20 years," Edwards said.

The second year of the Mark Richt era started on fire. The Bulldogs started 8-0, establishing themselves as the favorites in the SEC East.

But a 20-13 loss to Florida threw a wrench into those plans. After a ship-steadying home win over Ole Miss, Georgia headed to Auburn needing a win to clinch the division.

Despite the pressure, the team kept things light in practice that week.

"I wish the Florida week went the same way," said Greg Blue, a freshman defensive back on that team. "I think we were more uptight going against Florida than that week. I think it was a normal week, the coaches treated it like a normal week. They didn’t put that pressure on us."

That's not to say, however, that the Bulldogs avoided mentioning the stakes. Edwards said Richt and the coaching staff emphasized that, despite the upset loss to Florida, the team still had its goals right in front of it.

Edwards in particular had plenty on his plate heading to the Plains. He endured some abuse from Bulldog fans after a big drop against the Gators. Edwards then sustained a shoulder injury against Ole Miss, leaving him unavailable for the biggest game he and the other seniors had ever played.

"The leaders were the ones that came in together," Edwards said. "From Tony (Gilbert) to Boss (Bailey)—I’d known Boss. Ron (Bailey) and Robert (Edwards) were Georgia-Florida high school teammates together in 1993. I’d known Boss since we were like in the seventh or eighth grade. Tony lived in Macon and George (Foster) lived in Macon. I knew a bunch of them on the recruiting trail. That group was really, really tight. We just wanted to try to leave our legacy."

The injury bug had bitten the Bulldogs hard in the weeks prior. Along with Edwards, receiver Damien Gary missed the game. Another receiver, Fred Gibson, played through an injury.

The Georgia offense slogged through the first half, producing just three points. The defense did what it could in tough circumstances to keep the score 14-3 at halftime.

"We scored our points, but we weren’t that high-powered offense," Blue said. "Thing is, I really never worried about the offense. I just worried about the defense and stayed on that side of it. I actually was excited by it. I’m ready to get on the field. If they go three and out, I’m just happy I’ll be able to get back on the field. That was our mentality right there. We just wanted to go play ball. If it’s 100 plays, I’m excited about it because I’ve got 100 opportunities."

The veteran leadership asserted itself throughout the game. Offensive lineman Jon Stinchcomb gave, in Edwards' words, a "Tim Tebow-esque" speech to fire up the offense.

Quarterback David Greene didn't notice any different vibe on the sideline with everything on the line. He felt the team had an unshakeable belief that no matter the struggle, the Bulldogs would find a way to prevail. That confidence traced back to the previous season's upset win at Tennessee.

"I think everyone knew we were on the right track," Greene said about that win. "You could tell as a program, one, you could tell the players were buying in. You could tell that, look, this was kind of a different feel than what they had had in the past. Georgia had always won the games they were supposed to win and they would lose the games they were supposed to lose."

The offense rallied in the second half, putting together a pair of touchdown drives in the third period. But the Bulldogs still trailed 21-17 through most of the fourth quarter.

Georgia then took the lead for good on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Greene to Michael Johnson, playing in place of Edwards and Gary. Johnson had the game of his life that night, finishing with 13 catches for 141 yards and the famous touchdown on "70-X-Takeoff."

"X-Takeoff means throw it to Michael because he’s the X receiver," Greene said. "It wasn’t even, like, pick the best matchup. It was, this ball’s going to Michael Johnson."

The significance of the victory didn't resonate for the players in the moment. It took until the team returned to Athens and basked in the glow did they truly understand what the win meant.

After all, as Greene said, these were 18 to 22-year-old athletes. Not all of them grew up Georgia fans, and the ones who had didn't remember all the heartache of the past 20 years.

"We were just playing hard, wanting to win for our buddies and the school and the whole deal," Greene said. "When you start having some success like that, you notice it more when you go out in public and fans are just beside themselves, excited for the team and excited for the school and where the program’s at. That was a lot of fun."

Greene said he felt he played on some Georgia teams with more talent than that 2002 squad. But those Bulldogs took home the East with a mindset that has since become a staple of Kirby Smart's teams.

"Every year, a team, it’s like putting together a different puzzle. That was just a year where everyone on our squad really kind of bought into their role and owned it, owned their spot on the team. That’s part of the reason why it just worked so well," Greene said. "That ’02 team just, for whatever reason, everybody clicked on all cylinders. Everybody was locked in. It just worked."

Greene won 42 games during his Georgia career—at the time an NCAA record. But when people ask him the biggest game and play he participated in, he always looks back at that 2002 Auburn game.

Perhaps that's because of what came after. That win led to Georgia's first ever appearance in the SEC Championship Game, where it throttled Arkansas 30-3. A Sugar Bowl win after that put the team's final record at 13-1, setting a then-school record for wins in a season.

Until that point, the East had been dominated by Florida and Tennessee. Despite playing on some quality teams, Edwards never beat Florida in his Georgia career. Blue felt the program desperately needed the kickstart a division championship provided.

"The Donnan era, I think we had a lot of people and fans, we had a lot of hopes that that was going to be the start, but it didn’t happen," Blue said. "It gets to be the same old Georgia. Got all the talent, 20 draft picks, but can’t win the big ones. That year right there was our confidence builder that let us know that, you know what, we can win the big games when it matters."

The conference championship is the conquest that is most remembered, and rightly so. But the division title, at the time, was the first win of any real consequence for the program in 20 years.

Today, winning the East is the expectation for Kirby Smart's program. Georgia won the division four more times under Richt. In Smart's six full seasons at the helm, the Bulldogs have played in Atlanta for the conference crown four times.

But to understand where that standard and expectation comes from, you have to go back to a cold night in Auburn 20 years ago.

"I think that’s the start of what we’ve got going on now. That game is the start," Blue said. "The program has been a real good program. Kirby Smart, he inherited a real good team. But that starts from that SEC Championship East win right there. It starts with that."