Georgia entered last night’s game at SoFi Stadium with an opportunity to do something no team has done since the College Football Playoff was brought to life — win back-to-back National Championships. Their opponent, TCU, came into the matchup nearly two touchdown underdogs after overcoming substantial odds to even get to the playoffs. However, it only took a couple of drives to realize 14 points wasn’t nearly enough.
The reigning national champs did whatever they wanted for 60 minutes. They scored touchdowns on five of their six possessions in the first half, with the other resulting in a field goal. The only mistake they made was a mix up in coverage on TCU’s third drive of the game, which resulted in the Horned Frogs only touchdown. Other than that, they were flawless.
Stetson Bennett walked off the field to a curtain call with over 10 minutes left in the game. The rest of the starters followed him soon after. The 65-7 final score was the biggest blowout ever in a National Championship game by a wide margin and the biggest in bowl game history. The celebration started early for Georgia fans, and it continued through the night. To call it a football game would be unjust to the sport. It was a coronation of the machine that Kirby Smart has built in Athens, who can now call themselves the top Dawg in college football.
Georgia has become the antithesis of the program they were for 40 years since they won the National Championship back in 1980. For four decades, they were the team that couldn’t get over the hump. No matter how talented, no matter how big of a lead they built through three quarters, they consistently found a way to fall short. Under Kirby Smart, they’ve become the hump.
For 15 years, the College Football world was decided by what Nick Saban did at Alabama. They became the standard, the greatest College Football dynasty ever. This isn’t to say the Crimson Tide won’t return to the National Championship game in the near future. Alabama will always have a say as long as Saban is still walking, but their reign as king of the College Football world has ended.
Saban’s heir walks a little differently. He doesn’t have slicked back hair or move like a main character in Goodfellas. Kirby Smart is rugged; he’s aggressive, and he’s built a program that emulates his personality.
Everybody has bought into what Smart is selling in Athens. From top to bottom, they have become the most well-run College Football program in the country. They recruit the best, they develop the best, and they play the best. Nobody is more physical, and nobody is better prepared.
What Georgia did on Monday night was a spectacle. We can talk about their struggles against Missouri earlier in the season, or Ohio State just ten days ago. They looked vulnerable. Those are the type of games the old Georgia might have folded in. The old Georgia would have left fans wondering what could have been. The old Georgia wouldn’t have woken up National Champions for the second time in two years. But the new Georgia… they are already thinking about a three-peat.
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Photo: Jeffrey Vest/Icon Sportswire
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