University of Georgia football coach Kirby Smart pocketed a $250,000 bonus for winning the Peach Bowl Saturday night in Atlanta. He’ll receive another $250,000 on Monday, January 9 after his Bulldogs capture their second consecutive national championship, and here’s why: He gets it.
You become a dynasty by looking ahead instead of behind.
Take Georgia, for instance.
Within minutes after the clock struck midnight — you know, literally, not only for a new year, but for Ohio State — Smart wasn’t focused on Georgia managing an improbable 42-41 victory at Mercedes-Benz Stadium after a potential game-winning field goal for Ohio State wobbled wide left. He was thinking ahead to his Bulldogs trying to win it all against a TCU team that survived Michigan earlier in the day during another semifinal game of the College Football Playoff (CFP).
So, the coach ripped his quarterback.
I’ll say it gentler to start the new year: Kirby Smart mostly shrugged over Stetson Bennett spending the last two minutes and 36 seconds of the game leading the Bulldogs from a six-point deficit to the clinching touchdown and extra point with the most efficient drive of 72 yards on five plays you’ll ever see.
“He’s got to play within our system in order for us to be successful. He must play better if we expect to win the next one,” Smart told ESPN as his Bulldogs joined the Georgia-dominant crowd of 79,330 by going nuts in the background. The coach preferred to send a message to his 25-year-old quarterback in his sixth season, and it involved Bennett’s rocky moments — including an interception that contributed to a 21-7 Ohio State lead in the second quarter — before his success at the end.
Smart added regarding his 14-0 Bulldogs overall, “I mean, at the end of the day, we didn’t play real well. Ohio State probably deserved to win the game, but we never quit. We never quit.”
No, the Bulldogs didn’t. Neither did Ohio State, courtesy of quarterback C.J. Stroud playing the game of his life. He completed 23 of 34 passes for 348 yards and four touchdowns, and he rushed for 34 yards. He kept the 12-2 Buckeyes surging to double-digit leads throughout the evening, but Georgia kept ignoring its uncharacteristic uneven play on offense and defense to create a classic finish.
This was the CFP national championship game.
Well, the unofficial one.
In New York, they dropped the six-ton ball of crystal triangles in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, but in Atlanta, they countered with 800 pounds of fiberglass and foam resembling one of Georgia’s peaches. As for the latter, with an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 folks watching it all from the so-called Underground portion of downtown Atlanta, that’s not the primary reason nearly $60 million was generated this weekend for the local economy.
We’re back to the unofficial national championship game.
If you go by a survey of 68 former college football players from 2001 to 2022 performed by Goodyear and the Players’ Tribune, Ohio State fans travel better than any of their peers. Georgia fans are as loyal as they come since all 92,746 seats inside Sanford Stadium have been sold for 63 straight games. In other words, Atlanta’s chamber of commerce loved this matchup.
Not only that, but only Alabama (7) and Clemson (6) have appeared in more CFP games than Ohio State (5). This is Georgia’s third trip in five years, and the Bulldogs join Ohio State with a national title since the CFP’s inception in 2014. Neither Michigan nor TCU can say anything close to those CFP things, which is why the most important game of the season happened Saturday night in Atlanta.
For the record, TCU shocked significantly favored Michigan during the Fiesta Bowl to continue the Horned Frogs’ pursuit of making a lot of folks look silly as 200-1 underdogs regarding their national title chances.
Not to worry, Las Vegas. Championship honors won’t happen for TCU despite its fairy tale season, because Georgia is just significantly better.
Such also was the case for Ohio State, which meant CFP officials got it wrong in ranking their Final Four. They had Georgia No. 1 followed by Michigan, TCU and Ohio State. They should have made Ohio State No. 3 and TCU No. 4. If that happens, Georgia handles TCU in the semifinals without the hint of drama and highly motivated Ohio State dumps Michigan after getting smashed by the Wolverines at home during the regular-season finale.
Which brings us back to Ohio State-Georgia.
Wow.
For so many reasons, Georgia should have lost.
Nothing topped this: Smart’s vaunted defense spent a second consecutive game watching an opponent abuse its secondary. First, LSU threw for more than 500 yards against Georgia during the SEC championship game, and then Stroud combined with Marvin Harrison Jr. early and Emeka Egbuka before, during and after that, especially when an injury knocked Harrison out of the game deep into the third quarter.
In addition, Georgia’s all-everything defensive lineman Jalen Carter spent much of the game as if he needed an oxygen mask. It contributed to the Bulldogs’ lack of a pass rush for large chunks of the game. Clutch wide receiver Ladd McConkey battled knee issues. And where was Brock Bowers, among college football’s best tight ends? He was a no-show until the end, but that’s when the Bulldogs needed him the most.
The same went for Bennett, the Peach Bowl offensive MVP, but he entered that last drive completing just six passes for the half.
You know the rest.
The clock struck midnight, and just like that, Georgia turned into a combination of a powerhouse with a streak of Cinderella.
Not good for TCU.
