There was a sense of existential dread among the 100,077 people crammed into Bryant-Denny Stadium before Williams’ final act of heroism. Forget the fact that a loss wouldn’t nullify a postseason bid in this 12-team playoff era; the home crowd knew the psychological impact that loomed if they screwed this up.

Kirby Smart’s bogeyman is said to be dead – a real-life exorcism of the demons that stood between him and a dadgum dynasty.

Saturday night’s story would have been the resurrection of a Georgia team that was already on the farm in the state. Milroe’s 36-yard touchdown run with 12:24 left in the first half put the Tide up 28-0 as it outscored the visitors 258-27.

The whole moment was shocking.

Simply beautiful.

Alabama, an underdog at home for the first time since Williams was a toddler, had Georgia on his back and asked for an abdominal massage. Swap the uniforms and this game could have been mistaken for FCS appetizer week in Tuscaloosa, not a No. 2 vs. No. 4 primetime extravaganza.

Georgia was undisciplined, nervous and outmanned in every aspect of those first eighteen-plus minutes.

That made the scene all the more incredible with 2:31 left in the fourth quarter.

Like a zombie, Georgia crawled and then sprinted from the grave toward a nighttime terror in Alabama that became reality. Everything that once hummed with assembly line efficiency turned into an incoherent mess.

After scoring touchdowns on its first four drives, the Tide scored just three offensive points over its next eight possessions.

It all happened and Harvey Updyke’s mind was on full alert when Carson Beck spotted Dillon Bell on the first play of Georgia’s comeback-completed drive. Trailing by just five, the Bulldogs got the defensive look they had been looking for all night.

Pitch.

Catch.

Alabama loses suddenly and Bryant-Denny had the spins.

The walls closed after the 67-yard touchdown gave Georgia the stunning 34-33 lead. From the sidelines, the panic was unmistakable.

And 13 seconds later it was gone.

Poof.

All it took was one last perfect throw to Williams, a spin move mixed with a juke, and Alabama horror was a fairytale again.

The 75-yard touchdown pass on the first Tide snap after regaining the lead relieved the Bryant-Denny faithful.

Disaster averted.

Another freshman made it happen when Zabien Brown intercepted Beck in the end zone as he tried to tie the game in the final minute. It was Heisman favorite Beck’s third pick of the game on a night when he completed 27 of 50 throws for 439 yards.

Milroe, meanwhile, completed 27 of his 33 passes for 374 yards (177 to Williams), in addition to his 117 rushing yards.

He had a role in four touchdowns.

A legitimate Heisman contender on the team that leaves September with the nation’s most impressive win.

For a while, he was single-handedly beating Georgia.

That didn’t last long because the Alabama-Georgia storyline is never linear.

There’s always a twit. Alabama just survived one

So Milroe will win the final 41-34 and no one controls Rammer Jammer.

Especially not on this evening full of wild, mental-health-testing mood swings.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.