Back-To-Back!

021’s football National Championship was the first for the Georgia Bulldogs in almost half of a century, dating back to the days of Vince Dooley, Herschel Walker and Buck Belue. It was an amazing 33-18 victory over the SEC rival Alabama Crimson Tide. To think that euphoria could be topped, after losing five players in the first round of the NFL draft alone and a record 15 overall, almost seemed silly.

Until 2022, that is!

Wow, what an incredible ride we just witnessed, a perfect 15-0 season culminated by the beatdown of all beatdowns, a 65-7 win over TCU. 58 points!?!?!?

It all began back in early September as UGA destroyed a top 15 Oregon team at Mercedes Benz Stadium, 49-3. It was 28-3 at the half and probably could have been worse. Considering the Ducks were viewed as one of the best teams out West and a solid opening test the sky once again appeared to be the limit for Kirby Smart’s squad, despite the mass exodus of guys like Travon Walker, Jordan Davis and Quay Walker.

The first real test surprisingly came in Missouri as the Bulldogs, who came into the game as the 30 point road favorite and a perfect 4-0, trailed 16-6 at the half. This should have been a route from the get go but it wasn’t. In fact, Smart’s squad probably should have lost this game as they trailed by double digits with under 10 minutes to play. The Dawgs came back, as former Colquitt County High School star Daijun Edwards fought his way in from a yard out with four minutes remaining for the victory and the 5-0 start to the season.

After that surprising wake up call Smart’s squad would get back to its dominant ways in pounding Auburn, Vanderbilt and Florida by a combined score of 139-30. It was only that close because the Gators somehow managed to score 17 points in the third quarter, down in Jacksonville.

Stetson Bennett and company were 8-0 and headed for a showdown with the suddenly surging Tennessee Volunteers, in between the hedges. Many experts believed this was the year the Vols and their high flying fast paced offense would get over the hump. In the end, though, it was anything but as the Bulldog defense showed its mettle and dominated from start to finish in the 27-13 victory, that really wasn’t even that close.

At this point it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that the team would make the top four and a playoff spot in the end. A 50-30 SEC Championship victory over LSU secured that and a date with number 4 Ohio State in the National Semifinal. The Chick Fil A Peach Bowl would be the Bowl and our hometown Mercedes Benz Stadium would be the venue.

The Buckeyes were a super talented team with blue chippers all over the field. Quarterback CJ Stroud is going to be taken very early in the NFL draft, if not first, and Marvin Harrison, Jr. will probably be better than his legendary father and become one of the greatest receivers on the planet in a few years. So, this game was not going to be easy and it certainly played out that way.

Ohio State led throughout the contest and seemed to be, many times, one play away from wrapping up the upset win. Frankly, they were the better team but better teams don’t always win and that would be the case on this day. Quarterback Stetson Bennett made the clutch throws, as he seemed to always have a knack for, and when the clock struck midnight, literally, Buckeye kicker Noah Ruggles missed a game winning 50-yard field goal attempt in the 42-41 Dawg victory. The ball left Ruggles’ foot at 11:59 and 57 seconds in 2022 and landed wide left six seconds later and into the new year.

Bennett would cement his legacy in the 58 point Championship game win over the Horned Frogs with one of the greatest performances anybody would ever have, throwing for four touchdowns and rushing for two more. The Pierce County High School graduate received only one FBS scholarship offer (Middle Tennessee State) and actually left the University a few years back before returning to the school and beating out 5* JT Daniels for the job in 2021. Back-to-Back became a reality. It really is the stuff dreams are made of!

Oh and by the way, Smart’s Dawgs are the betting favorites to win it all again next year.

Can you say Three-Peat?