No. 1 Georgia overwhelms No. 3 TCU to go back-to-back

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Stetson Bennett threw two touchdowns and ran for two scores in the first half as No. 1 Georgia demolished No. 3 TCU 65-7 on Saturday night to become the first team to win consecutive College Football Playoff national championships.

The Bulldogs (15-0) are the first repeat champions since Alabama back-to-back a decade ago, and they have no doubt that they have replaced the Crimson Tide as the new bullies on the block.

“We want our kids to be able to play without fear,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “All year I told them, I said, ‘We do not ask people to hunt, we are hunting, and the hunting season is almost over. We have only got one more chance to hunt,’ and we are hunting tonight.

The Bulldogs didn’t give up as they successfully defended the national title they won a year earlier, jumped on the Horned Frogs early and never let up as Bennett recorded four touchdowns in the first half and six overall (four passing, two rushing). Bennett completed 18 of 25 passes overall for 304 yards while also rushing three times for another 39 yards, piling up those numbers in the first three quarters before getting pulled from the game early in the fourth.

Along the way, Bennett, a one-time walk-on who had to leave Georgia and return after a stint in junior high, passed Aaron Murray for the most passing yards in a single season in the program’s storied history. Bennett also matched former LSU star and current CFP Joe Burrow’s NFL record of six total touchdowns in a championship game.

TCU (13-2), the first Cinderella team of the playoff era, never had a chance against the Georgia juggernaut. Unlike Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl semifinals, the Bulldogs won’t succumb to the spell of the Hypnotoads.

Georgia became one of the all-time beatdowns in the game that decided the national title, like Nebraska ran through Florida by 38 in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl, USC’s 36-point defeat of Oklahoma in the 2005 Orange Bowl and Alabama 28-point. BCS Championship beat Notre Dame in 2013.

But this is worse.

Too much talent. Well trained. Two straight titles for the ‘Dawgs.

No team has scored more points in a national championship game since the BCS’s inception in 1998.

With 13:25 left in the fourth quarter, Smart called a timeout in the middle of an offensive drive so Bennett could walk out to a hero’s ovation in the final game of his college career.

“It was special,” said Bennett, who finished 18 for 25 for 304 yards and four touchdown passes. “I will remember that for the rest of my life.”

Georgia offensive linemen were snacking on chicken wings on the sideline as the game wound down. Then, for the second year in a row, the Bulldogs were showered with confetti and presented with the championship trophy.

Smart is now 81-15 in his first seven seasons at Georgia with two national titles. His mentor, Alabama coach Nick Saban, is 79-15 with three titles in his first seven seasons with the Tide.

The Bulldogs are a different kind of dominant this season: less stingy on defense, but more explosive on offense.

Earlier in Smart’s season at his alma mater, Georgia fans were worried about whether the former defensive coordinator for Saban would be able to create an offense to match this high-scoring era of college football.

Under third-year coordinator Todd Monken, the Bulldogs have become productive, creative and versatile offensively. He picks on TCU’s 3-3-5 defense from all angles.

Versatile tight end Brock Bowers had seven catches for 152 yards. Receiver Ladd McConkey caught two TDs. Georgia ran for 254 yards with seven players gaining at least 10.

The Bulldogs scored all six times they touched the ball in the first half. Twice Bennett ran on himself; The former two-time national champion walk-on just hit two quarterbacks.

He hit McConkey wide open for a 34-yard score in the first quarter, a perfectly executed play out of a bunched formation that had TCU’s defensive backs in disarray. Bennett’s 22-yard score to Adonai Mitchell was a higher level of difficulty, dropping over a defender in tight coverage.

It looked very much like the Bennett-to-Mitchell touchdown that gave Georgia a fourth-quarter lead would not relinquish it to Alabama in last year’s CFP title game.

Georgia defeated the Tide to snap a 41-year national title drought last season, avenging its only regular season loss in the process.

None of that drama against the Horned Frogs.

This year the Bulldogs never worried about Alabama. They rolled through the SEC, survived Ohio State in the classic CFP semifinals and then emphatically stamped themselves as a burgeoning dynasty with a perfect season.

Bennett hit Bowers for a 22-yard score with 10:52 left in the third quarter to make it 45-7. The sophomore from Northern California signaled a touchdown while lying on the turf at Sofi Stadium. Bennett grinned widely as he tapped helmets with one of the linemen.

UGA’s famous Georgia bulldog mascot couldn’t make the cross-country trip to root on the team, but it still felt a little like Sanford Stadium in SoCal.

Many TCU fans were out for more than half of the fourth quarter, choosing to go out into the wet and cold night rather than watch another matchless match.

Heisman Trophy runner-up Max Duggan threw two first-round interceptions in the final game of his roller-coaster TCU career.

A four-year starter who had never played in a bowl before this season, Duggan led TCU on one of the most improbable runs in football history.

Unranked after a losing season in 2021 and seeded seventh in the Big 12 in Sonny Dykes’ first year as coach, the Frogs won nine games by 10 points or less. They won the program’s first national title since 1938.

But Duggan apparently hasn’t seen a defense like Georgia’s, which has proven to be just as dominant as its offense. Defensive back Javon Bullard came up with both of Georgia’s interceptions from Duggan in the first half, and also had a fumble recovery caused by fellow defensive lineman Christoper Smith that set up an early UGA field goal.

Georgia then added another Bennett TD toss of 14 yards to McConkey in the third quarter. McConkey’s second TD grab of the night made it 52-7 with one quarter left to play.

In the early fourth, Bennett was replaced by Carson Beck at quarterback. Beck usually handed off UGA’s running back when he took the lead, which twice led to freshman running back Branson Robinson reaching the end zone for add-on touchdown runs of 1 yard and 19 yards, respectively.