No. 4 Ohio State provided the first bit of bulletin-board material Wednesday ahead of its matchup with No. 1 Georgia in Saturday’s Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Asked what advantages Ohio State’s defense may have against the Bulldogs’ offense, linebacker Tommy Eichenberg said, “Everywhere. I think it just comes down to all of us just doing our job. And if we do that, we have a really good chance.”
While Eichenberg provided context after saying “everywhere,” defensive end Jack Sawyer doubled down by saying, “I think we have advantages across the board on both sides of the ball, and we’ve just got to go out there and execute.”
Ohio State is a 6.5-point underdog and is coming off a 45-23 loss to rival Michigan. Georgia is the defending national champ and is undefeated this season.
The claim made by the players breaks a two-day respect-fest that the teams have put on for each other.
Asked if they wanted to respond to Ohio State’s claim, Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken, quarterback Stetson Bennett and center Sedrick Van Pran took a more diplomatic approach.
“Well, I mean, they should have confidence,” Monken said. “They have a good football team. I’m not going to sit here and say that we think in terms of this X, Y and Z, we have advantages. We have a good football team. Our tape proves that. Their tape proves it. So at the end of the day, we got good football players. They got good football players.”
Bennett, a Heisman Trophy finalist, said, as part of his answer, “We certainly are not taking Ohio State lightly. Like they said, they’ve got advantages all over the board. So we’re going to have to go play football.”
Van Pran said, “I really have a lot of respect for Ohio State, their program and everything that they stand for, but also I have a lot of pride in Georgia football. So we just really look forward to continuing to prepare and just go out there and compete.”
Ohio State’s players eventually weren’t as verbose when asked about the Michigan game, which was played more than a month ago. Eichenberg, Sawyer and Lathan Ransom each gave a succinct, “Yes,” when asked if they were tired of being asked about the Wolverines. To be fair, they already had been asked four questions about the Michigan game compared with two questions specifically about Georgia.
Michigan gouged the Buckeyes for 21 points in the fourth quarter. Two of those touchdowns came on runs of 75 and 85 yards. In the second quarter, the Wolverines scored on passing plays of 69 and 75 yards.
Monken said he thinks the touchdowns scored in the second quarter were the result of bad luck for the Buckeyes. He noted that on one play, two defenders ran into each other. On the other, a missed sack resulted in a completed pass and a missed tackle.
Georgia may not need luck to produce big plays against Ohio State. The Bulldogs have had 59 plays of at least 25 yards this season, including nine in their past two games.
Though those players said they think they have advantages, the Bulldogs do have the respect of Ohio State’s players and defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. They praised Georgia’s versatility, Bennett’s abilities and the offensive line’s athletic ability.
“You’re talking about a bunch of guys that are going to play at the next level,” Knowles said of Georgia. “You’re talking about a serious program that has a consistency to it and multiplicity. So it’s a huge challenge, but we need to take it apart piece by piece. That’s what we’ve done, make sure everybody is on the same page and play hard.”
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