A crimson cloud has loomed at the end of tunnel that is Georgia's 2021 football season.

All year long, Georgia and Alabama have been on a collision course for the SEC Championship Game. The Bulldogs have been asked about it for weeks, even more so after clinching the SEC East on Oct. 30. Players have given the stale and standard answer of "taking it one game at a time."

Now, the Bulldogs are at the end of that tunnel. They're 12-0 and can now finally look toward Mercedes-Benz Stadium and next Saturday's SEC title clash with Alabama.

"It’s a big accomplishment," quarterback Stetson Bennett said of the undefeated regular season. "Now the real fun starts."

This will mark the third time Georgia and Alabama meet for the conference crown. The Crimson Tide triumphed in the two previous meetings in 2012 and 2018.

Now both teams will prepare for the meeting that has felt inevitable since the summer. Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said the team's focus all year has been peaking at the right time in preparation for this clash.

"Everyone’s kind of had it circled and seen it out there," Smart said. "We’ve really tried to work hard on getting better. That’s been the emphasis, is what can we improve on. The last two weeks we’ve been trying to be ascending. We’ve tried to get some guys back healthy. And that’s going to be the focus this week, is nobody trying to do more than they should."

Saturday showed signs that the Bulldogs are indeed playing some of their best football of the year. They didn't turn the ball over against Georgia Tech. Georgia also committed zero penalties, the first time that's happened since the Georgia Tech game two years ago.

Smart said the strength of this team resides in its leaders. Those players took it upon themselves to reinforce to their teammates what needed to happen in order to win this week. To be more specific, those leaders made sure the Bulldogs continued to play to their standard regardless of the opponent.

That resulted in a 45-0 win over the Yellow Jackets, tying Georgia's largest margin of victory in series history. It's the latest in a string of blowout wins that has spanned most of the season.

That type of win makes it easier to move on to the next one. A game that's over by the end of the third quarter allows the players to emotionally detach and re-focus on the next opponent. However, it can also lead to a head coach focusing more than normal on his team's conditioning.

"The Clemson game was the first game of the year and I thought we were a little tired, we had to play the whole time," Smart said. "But we’ve worked really hard on Mondays and Tuesdays, running guys, trying to make sure we’re keeping our stamina up. We hold each other accountable, they’re up for the task, they’ve answered the bell, and they’ve done the right things."

Next week will more than likely see Georgia play its first four-quarter game in three months. Executing for all four quarters will be vital for the team's success.

Even in a blowout win over Georgia Tech, the Bulldogs were not perfect. The offense had a couple of subpar drives before halftime. The defense allowed some successful runs at times.

Bennett said those issues will be addressed in practice this week. The next few days will also likely see some of the most intense practices of the season for the Bulldogs.

After all, it's finally time for the opponent that has been on the horizon all season.