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What happened on the Stetson Bennett fumble call that led to an Alabama touchdown?

The quarterback appeared to be trying to get rid of the ball as he was getting sacked in the fourth quarter, with refs calling it a fumble.

INDIANAPOLIS — It's a play that very well could go on to define the 2022 National Championship Game - and we're still trying to make sense of it.

Dropping back for a pass on third down, Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett was quickly hurried out of the pocket and trying to escape Alabama's Christian Harris.

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As he was about to be pulled down for a sack by Harris, he just managed to get the ball away - only the refs decided it was a fumble.

Watch the play for yourself:

Alabama's Brian Branch recovered it, almost seemingly without even meaning to. The Tide took over inside the 20 and quickly converted the turnover into a touchdown.

Confusingly, the refs explained went to a review and explained that if it was determined not to be a fumble, they would be calling it intentional grounding.

That made things even more questionable, because if it wasn't a fumble it looked very much like Harris pulling down Bennett simply altered what would have otherwise been a perfectly legitimate throwing attempt.

In general the play didn't seem all that markedly different from one earlier in the game, where the refs ruled that Bama QB Bryce Young had fumbled - leading to a Dawgs recovery touchdown.

They reviewed that play, felt like Young's arm was moving forward in a passing motion, and ruled it an incomplete pass. It's hard to watch that replay and come to any kind of conclusion that Bennett somehow wasn't also clearly bringing his arm forward in a passing motion.

Georgia fans were not happy.

The good news for the Dawgs, though, is that Bennett stepped up and responded with a 40-yard touchdown pass on the very next drive, giving Georgia the lead again at 19-18.

Still anybody's game to win here.

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