It’s Georgia-TCU for the national championship.
The nation’s No. 1 and No. 3 teams emerged victorious from two of the wildest College Football Playoff semifinals the world has seen. The top-ranked Bulldogs twice overcame two-touchdown deficits and outscored No. 4 Ohio State 18-3 in the fourth quarter on the way to a 42-41 victory in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. Four hours earlier, the Horned Frogs returned two interceptions for touchdowns, then held on in the second half for a 51-45 win over No. 2 Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl.
That pits the defending national champions against TCU (13-1), who at 200-to-1 odds is the biggest longshot to make the championship game since the playoff’s inception in 2014. They will meet at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on Jan. 9.
This will be the fifth meeting of all-time for Georgia and TCU. The Bulldogs have won the other four matchups, the latest a 31-23 victory in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis in 2016.
Looking exhausted in the postgame press conference, Georgia coach Kirby Smart didn’t even want to talk about the next challenge that awaits his team.
“We’ve got to sleep,” Smart said. “We’ll get started (Sunday) and jump back on. … In 2018, we had a long flight home from Pasadena. We’ve got a little more time. It’s important that we get healed. Our players have had a long season.”
Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett earned offensive MVP honors in his third consecutive CFP game. A sixth-year senior, Bennett passed for 398 yards and three touchdowns and ran for one more as the Bulldogs mounted their largest comeback in the Smart Era.
“We’ve got to prepare our butts off,” Bennett said. “We didn’t play our best game, starting with me. So, we’ve got to fix that. We’re going to work.”
Here are some things that we learned from Saturday:
Timely timeout
One of the more incredible – and overshadowed – moments came with the Bulldogs trailing 38-27 with 8:58 to play. The Buckeyes ran a fake punt by snapping to the up-back and appeared to have done so successfully when officials waved off the play.
Smart called a timeout milliseconds before the ball was snapped when he recognized how Ohio State lined up.
“I saw the formation,” he said. “Apparently they were saying something on special-teams line (on the headphones), but I wasn’t on that line. I was on the defensive line. I was prepared to call a timeout, which I don’t like doing because it costs you possessions when you do that. But you’ve got to be prepared.”
It proved to be a turning point. The Buckeyes ended up punting the ball 42 yards, which Kearis Jackson fair-caught at the 24. On first play from scrimmage, Bennett hit Arian Smith with a deep pass that went 76 yards for a touchdown. A two-point conversion pass to Ladd McConkey got the Bulldogs within 38-35 with 8:41 to play, and the comeback was on.
“He made the dude fall and was running so fast,” Bennett said. “I think the whole sideline was standing up saying, ‘he’s open!’ So I just tried to put it on him and let him do the rest.”
Critical overturn
Georgia had another fateful moment on its previous offensive possession earlier in the fourth quarter. Trailing by two touchdowns, Georgia went for it on fourth-and-6 at the Ohio State 13. Bennett threw a pass to tight end Brock Bowers on a quick-out to the right sideline. The Pac-12 officiating crew ruled that Bowers was just short of the line-to-gain. But a long video replay review determined that Bowers had reached it by inches.
The whole stadium thought we didn’t get it, and then they reviewed it,” Bennett said. “Brock was pretty dumbfounded because he was, like, ‘I think I got it.’ I was, like, ‘I thought you did, too because the route you were catching was five yards,’ and it was fourth and-6, and people don’t stop him for a yard. But I didn’t know.”
Unfortunately for Bennett, he gave it all back when, on second-and-goal from the 3, he short-armed what was supposed to be a backfield pass for McConkey. Thrown well behind McConkey, it was ruled a lateral and McConkey had to fall on the ball for what was a 10-yard loss. The Bulldogs settled for a 31-yard Jack Podlesny field goal.
Defensive MVP
Georgia did not play very well on defense, but Javon Bullard was judged to have played best among the Bulldogs’ defenders. While he finished with only three tackles, Bullard also recorded a sack and made the defensive play of the game on a pass break-up against Marvin Harrison.
On third-and-goal at the Georgia 7, Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud, under heavy pressure, unleashed a high-arcing floater to the back of the end zone. Cornerback Kelee Ringo had his back to the play trying to cover Harrison on the back line. But Bullard read the play from the other side of the end zone and came flying across and reached Harrison just as the ball arrived. His diving tackle sent Harrison sprawling, and the star wideout did not return to the game after being placed in concussion protocol.
Bullard initially was flagged for targeting. But the ensuing review showed he had led with his shoulder and properly defended the ball.
“C.J. scrambled. He made a play with his feet and threw the ball up in the air,” Bullard said. “I saw Marvin’s hands going for the ball and just tried to make a play when I could.”
Mims starts
Georgia sophomore Amarius Mims got the first start of his career Saturday. A 6-foot-7, 330-pound product of Cochran, Mims got the nod over junior Warren McClendon, who has been recovering the past four weeks from a knee sprain sustained in the first half of the SEC Championship game.
McClendon dressed out and warmed up but, after taking snaps with No. 2 group in pregame warmups, he did not play. He had started 37 consecutive games before Saturday.
The starting assignment represented a full-circle moment for Mims. A former 5-star recruit and No. 1 player in the state, Mims was limited to seven games as a backup as a freshman. He entered the transfer portal this past spring and took an official visit to Florida State before deciding to return to UGA.
This year, Mims played in 10 of the Bulldogs’ previous 14 games as McClendon’s backup.
Ins and outs
Sophomore split end A.D. Mitchell got his first start since the second game of the season. Out since then with a high-ankle sprain, Mitchell started alongside junior Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint and finished with three catches for 43 yards and the game-winning touchdown catch on a 10-yard pass from Bennett with 54 seconds to play.
McConkey (knee) also was a game-day decision for the Bulldogs. He did not start for only the second time in Georgia’s 14 games. He did play, however, and fairly extensively, even though he finished with only two catches for minus-1 yards.
Georgia lost tight end Darnell Washington to an ankle injury in the first half. Finishing with one catch for nine yards, Washington did not return. His status for the title game won’t be known. Washington left the stadium walking under his own power but hobbling significantly with his ankle heavily wrapped.
Georgia’s most serious injury happened to outside linebacker Chaz Chambliss with 4:12 remaining in the fourth quarter. Chambliss had to be helped off the field by trainers after injuring a knee on punt-return coverage. It was a non-contact injury.
