Georgia Football: 5 Reasons Why the Bulldogs Will Beat Ohio State in the College Football Playoff Semifinal
When the old saying “Hunker down your hairy Dogs” gets thrown around lately it probably has more to do with the Georgia Bulldogs hunkering down in their annual role to be consensus national championship contenders. As head coach Kirby Smart has echoed before, he and his staff didn’t want to make Georgia a title contender for one season. They built this program to do that on an annual basis. Think the SEC East’s version of Alabama. And here we are today, looking at the boys wearing the Bulldog red, Arch black and Chapel Bell white back in the four-team College Football Playoff.
This version of the Bulldogs is a spotless 13-0 heading into their Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl/semifinal showdown with Ohio State and are looking to become the first team in the playoff era to earn back-to-back national championships while also hoping that a win will allow the 'Dogs to become the first team in major college football to ever win 29 games in a two-year span. Georgia beat Michigan in last year’s national semifinal by a 34-11 score and now faces another Big Ten team as it hopes to move forward to another championship game appearance. And, if you’re counting the ways, here are the reasons why the Bulldogs will do just that on New Year’s Eve at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
5 Reasons Why Georgia Will Beat Ohio State in the College Football Playoff Semifinal
1. Because Stetson Bennett is a broken record
And I mean that in a good way. He’s a stud that is set on “repeat.” This guy is not opting out, he’s not preparing for the NFL draft and he’s not hitting the transfer portal. Bennett is a Bulldog through and through, no doubt. A lifer. So the biggest key to Georgia's chances isn’t going anywhere. He’s locked in for the playoff. The dude just knows how to play the game and knows how to win. He doesn’t lead the country in passing yards, passing efficiency, yards per attempt, or anything even close to that. All he does is get behind the center and win football games.
Bennett’s biggest deficiency is his deep passing game. He completes a lot of passes underneath in the middle of the field. Of course, with Brock Bowers, Ladd McConkey, Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint, and Kearis Jackson, they tend to turn short passes into long gains anyway.
2. The big uglies up front
(*slight plagiarism warning*). In last year’s preview to the national title game, Athlon's Steven Lassan mentioned how the Georgia offensive line was going to be a huge key to success against Alabama. In 2021, the bullies up front gave up an SEC-low 11 sacks while opening up running lanes to the tune of 5.3 yards per carry. Well, things have only gotten better in 2022, as the Bulldogs have given up just seven sacks (second fewest in the FBS) and the running game is averaging 5.5 yards per rushing attempt. Now, keep in mind that Ohio State's defense is averaging a very impressive 36 percent pressure rate when NOT blitzing, which is the best in the FBS. So this even better UGa O-line will need to be on top of its game once again.
3. Because nobody ever says "offense wins championships"
If you want any validation that this Georgia football program wasn’t built to be a one-hit wonder (sorry ‘bout that Gotye), just check the top of the SEC defensive statistics. Yep, there you go. Tops in total defense (292.3 ypg allowed), scoring defense (12.8 ppg), rushing defense (77.0 ypg), and third-down conversions (27 percent). And as all of you probably know by heart now, this is a defense that lost five first-round draft picks last year. Granted, Ohio State is second nationally in scoring with 44.5 points per game and C.J. Stroud is the best quarterback in passing efficiency. So something’s gotta give, right? Well, as the old adage goes, defense wins championships. Advantage Silver Britches.
4. The Ohio State defensive backfield
Everybody saw what happened against “that team up north” back in November, right? The Buckeyes gave up an astounding 42 points on 530 yards of total offense. Even though Donovan Edwards ran for a country mile on that OSU defense (maybe two country miles), J.J. McCarthy averaged 22 yards per completion including touchdown passes of 69 and 75 yards to Cornelius Johnson and a 45-yard scoring strike to Colston Loveland. The Buckeyes have black eyes from their last few games down the stretch, which has included giving up 318 passing yards to Maryland and 371 passing yards to Penn State.
5. The psychological state of the Buckeyes
This one goes hand-in-glove with No. 4, of course. That whole team took a real browbeating on a national stage against their archrivals. But we saw flashes of the Michigan debacle coming from a mile away too. In three of the four games leading up to that game, the Buckeyes were in back-and-forth, one-score games in the fourth quarter against Penn State, Northwestern and Maryland. A dogfight against the Rose Bowl-playing Nittany Lions one can understand, sure, but against the Wildcats and Terrapins there was no reason those games should’ve been close in the latter stages of the game. Now, this is the first time all season that the Buckeyes have actually been underdogs, giving up a 6.5-point spread here. Hell, I’m a little surprised it isn’t more than that.
— Written by Eric Sorenson, who is part of the Athlon Contributor Network. He is a college football, college baseball and college hockey addict... and writer. Follow him on Twitter @Stitch_Head.
