Yes, Georgia’s secondary was shredded by LSU for more than 500 yards in the SEC Championship game a few weeks ago.
Yes, Ohio State, led by two-time Heisman Trophy finalist C.J. Stroud, has more than enough talent to attempt to do the same against the Bulldogs in Saturday’s Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (8 p.m., ESPN), whose winner at Mercedes-Benz Stadium will advance to play for the national championship.
Yes, some of Georgia’s players said that Ohio State’s wide receivers remind them of what they saw against LSU.
No, perhaps as a relief for Bulldogs supporters, Stroud doesn’t think the pending game will be played the same way as the SEC title game, won by the No. 1 Bulldogs 50-30.
“We’ve got to play Buckeye football,” he said. “LSU do what LSU did. So, I’m pretty sure they aren’t going to let us drop back and do what we want to do. I’m pretty sure they’ve been watching film on us and make sure that’s something they stop.”
Stroud’s grounded approach is one of the reasons that Georgia coach Kirby Smart said Monday he recruited him. Stroud also is good at what he does. He passed for 3,340 yards and 37 touchdowns. His favorite targets were a pair of 1,000-yard receivers in Marvin Harrison and Emeka Egbuka.
“He’s an elite passer who can make all the throws,” Georgia co-defensive coordinator Will Muschamp said. “He has legs, athleticism. But the No. 1 thing is his ability to throw the football.”
Put them together, and the No. 4 Buckeyes averaged 44.5 points, second most in FBS, and 492.7 yards per game. They will offer the Bulldogs, who averaged 12.8 (second fewest in FBS) and 215 passing yards allowed per game, their toughest test this season.
“We have confidence in ourselves and how we’re going to make things work and go out there and compete,” said Harrison, an All-American who had 1,157 receiving yards. “We’re not going to take too much from other teams. Obviously have to watch the film to see what other teams did, but (then) just worry about ourselves and see what we can do.”
What may scare some Bulldogs supporters is that several of their players said that Harrison and Egbuka reminded them of the LSU tandem of Malik Nabers and Kayshon Boutte, who combined for 235 yards and two touchdowns in the SEC title game. Other comparisons mentioned Tuesday included Tennessee, which Georgia defeated 27-13, and some sets run by Florida that are similar to Ohio State’s.
The mistakes made by Georgia against LSU included getting caught watching on play-action, which allowed receivers to run into open space behind the defense, and blown coverages. Ohio State has feasted on mistakes made by defenses this season. It has run 76 plays of at least 20 yards, which includes 35 by Harrison and Egbuka. Forty of the team’s big plays have gone for at least 30 yards. That is fifth most in FBS. Georgia’s defense allowed 38 plays of at least 20 yards, seven of which were posted by LSU. That was the most allowed by the Bulldogs in a game this season.
Georgia defensive back Christopher Smith said the defense learned what it needed from LSU and is applying lessons about improving its technique and fundamentals for Saturday’s game.
“It’s been a month that we’ve had to be able to practice and get prepared for this game, and just locking in on a game plan,” he said. “That game is in the past. We know we didn’t perform our best, and we can perform better, and that’s what we want to do for this game on Saturday.”
Ohio State offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson flatly summed up what Ohio State learned from Georgia’s film against LSU the best when he noted the Bulldogs still won by 20. It doesn’t matter if the Buckeyes replicate the Tigers’ success if they don’t win.
“You look at the history of championship football games, there’s not a lot of 9-7, 13-10 ballgames,” he said. “We have to find ways to not only have yards passing and running. We’ve got to find a way to get the ball to the end zone if we want a chance to win this game.”
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