Perfection: Georgia thumps TCU 65-7 to repeat as National Champions
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Georgia’s 2022 football season has concluded and perfection describes it. The Bulldogs shellacked TCU 65-7 to earn its second National Championship in as many seasons, earning the school’s first ever 15-0 record in the process.
Stetson Bennett earned National Championship game MVP by completing 18 of 25 passes for 304 and four touchdowns. He added two more on the ground and left the game with over 13 minutes left in the fourth quarter to a standing ovation and hugs from teammates and coaches. Brock Bowers caught seven passes for 152 yards and a score and Javon Bullard picked off two passes and recovered a fumble to win defensive MVP honors.
Las Vegas had Georgia favored by 13.5 points at kickoff, the largest favorite ever in the national championship. It wasn’t long before we learned that it wasn’t enough. TCU got the ball first and went three and out. Georgia got the punt and marched right down the field to put the Horned Frogs in a 7-0 hole.
Bennett took a keeper around left end for 21 yards and the score. It was followed by Jack Podlesny’s PAT and then the first of three TCU turnovers in the first half. Christopher Smith punched the ball out of Derius Davis’ hands and it was recovered by Javon Bullard.
The Bulldogs got to the Texas Christian six-yard line but the drive stalled there. Podlnesny made a short field goal to push the lead to 10-0.
TCU fought right back with their only score of the first half. Max Duggan found Davis for a 60-yard gain. Duggan punched it in three plays later and the PAT cut Georgia’s lead to 10-7. That’s as close as this thing would get.
Georgia went on what had to feel like and endless run, scoring 28 points in the final 18 minutes of the first half. Bennett had a hand in all but one of those scores. He hit Ladd McConkey for a score from 47 yards out and ran for his second touchdown of the day. AD Mitchell was on the receiving end of a 22-yard strike at the end of the first half and a one-yard surge from Kendall Milton was mixed in.
The half ended with Georgia leading 38-7 because it scored twice in the final 79 seconds. It got right back to work in the third quarter with 14 more points on two more Bennett touchdowns. He found Bowers for a 22-yard score and McConkey from 14 yards out to make it 52-7 with over two minutes left in the third.
Carson Beck came into the game at quarterback and Georgia didn’t skip a beat. The Bulldogs punched it in on a one-yard run from Branson Robinson and the PAT pushed the lead to 59-7. Robinson would rush for one more score, getting it to 65-7. Georgia’s 65 points in a National Championship marks the most ever by a team in the title game, topping Nebraska’s 62 in 1995, also on the back end of two consecutive titles.
