Five things to know for UGA vs. TCU in CFP national championship game
Georgia and TCU play for the College Football Playoff national championship Monday at 7:30 p.m. ET in So-Fi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. Here are five things to know about the game:
Familiar favorite meets out-of-nowhere upstart
Georgia was a 5-1 preseason favorite to win the national title, behind only Alabama and Ohio State. TCU? It was listed as 250-1 among teams like Iowa State, Minnesota, and California, according to odds by sportsbetting.ag before the season.
“If you had asked us before the season started, would we play for a national championship, most of us probably didn't think that we would,” TCU coach Sonny Dykes said. “Thought that we were capable, certainly, but we just hadn't done it together. And there is a lot that goes into doing it together. …We've kind of had to build the plane while we're flying it in some ways.”
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Kirby Smart and his staff had to reconstruct his depth chart after losing 15 players to the NFL draft off the national championship team.
There were capable and talented replacements and lo and behold Georgia is 14-0 and back in the national title game after a wide left 50-yard field goal by Ohio State
“We finished the job and did what we had to do,” linebacker Smael Mondon said. “We didn’t play our best game and know we’ll have to play a lot better. We have to go finish the drill.”
TCU took down one unbeaten blue blood program. Now a team picked to finish seventh in the Big 12 in the preseason—behind Iowa State--gets a chance to do it again.
“They just played really tough football, hard-nosed football, believed in each other, believed in their teammates, and just found a way to overcome and persevere,” Dykes said after the game. “It's kind of what we've done all year.”
Dykes saw the potential of the team in week 4 when it throttled then No. 18 Oklahoma 55-24.
“It was a bit of an eye-opener for me, honestly because we played OK up to that point,” Dykes said. “We felt we were playing against really good competition. And the big question we had to answer after that was how are we going to handle prosperity. And also how are we going to deal with adversity, because that's going to happen quickly.”
Two weeks later, it rallied from 17 down to beat No. 8 Oklahoma State in double overtime 43-40.
It has six wins over ranked opponents this season including 51-45 over Michigan in the CFP semifinal.
Only four TCU players had taken part in a bowl game before that Fiesta Bowl
“Their kids believe,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “They have, I feel like just reading and listening about them, a lot of similarities to our kids in terms of the culture created there, the way they play, the way they believe.”
Dykes said the team he took over after Gary Patterson was fired had “just a general belief in each other and a belief that we're good enough. I think that's been the message really since I got the job here was, we're good enough. We're good enough to compete. We're good enough to win game one and we're good enough to win game two. And let's take it one game at a time.
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Another Heisman finalist battle between Stetson Bennett and Max Duggan
Stetson Bennett prevailed in a head-to-head matchup with fellow Heisman Trophy finalist C.J. Stroud of Ohio State as both quarterbacks piled up the passing yards and Georgia rallied from 14 down in the fourth quarter
Here comes another QB that hung out with Bennett on the second weekend of December in New York.
That’s Max Duggan, who began the season as the backup after a quarterback competition, and ended up finishing runner-up for the stiff-arm trophy.
“He's an A-plus dude,” Bennett said. “He works hard. All those things. But I think he's the heart and soul of that team. I hadn't really watched him play, but I've watched his interviews, and I've watched just how he carried himself up in New York. And he's a leader. And there's something to be said for both his story and my story and the fact that we're here in the end.
Bennett threw for 398 yards and 3 touchdowns in the 42-41 Peach Bowl win over Ohio State but said he played about 30 bad minutes in the game.
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“We've just got to clean up those areas where we didn't play as cleanly for a little bit,” Smart said, “and not have to play basically perfect like we did in the fourth quarter.”
Bennett has completed 74.5 percent of his passes in the fourth quarter for 511 yards with 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and a 186.86 rating, per cfbstats.com
“I think he doesn't think of the moment any different than the first quarter from the fourth quarter,” Smart said. “He doesn't feel that. He is a processor. He's a deep thinker. He just goes through the process of what he's going to do and doesn't let it affect him. He's never real, real high or real real low, which I think is a great trait for a quarterback. And I think that helps him in the fourth quarter to be able to go execute. He has a lot of confidence.”
Georgia will be going up against a TCU defense that employs a 3-3-5 base defense, but Smart said there are different coverage structures and personnel groupings from that type of defense his team saw at Mississippi State.
Bennett, he said, “understands defenses. I think he's very smart. There's no defense he's going to see that he hasn't seen before. You're not tricking an experienced quarterback, very similar with Stetson. You've got to do it better than they do it. You've got to out-executed them.”
Big plays all around from Georgia Bulldogs wide receivers
Georgia lost its biggest target in the passing game when tight end Darnell Washington had a lower leg injury against Ohio State in the Peach Bowl.
Stetson Bennett still found plenty of weapons. Seven different players caught passes of 20 or more yards, including five different receivers: AD Mitchell, Arian Smith, Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint, Kearis Jackson and Dominick Blaylock.
Coaches motivated them by saying Ohio State’s wideout were getting the hype.
“We've got some good wideouts too, and they have a chip on their shoulder, and they want to make plays,” Smart said. “They have a quarterback that can get them the ball.”
Mitchell, who battled a high-ankle sprain since early in the season, had 3 catches for 43 yards and the go-ahead 10-yard touchdown catch with 54 seconds left.
“Just seeing him fight to get back, it’s a great deal to see him get the game-winning touchdown,” right tackle Broderick Jones said.
On a third-and-10, Blaylock lined up in the slot and twisted to make a 20-yard catch.
“I’m just happy that I could do what I could do for my team to put them in good position to go out and execute and score,” he said.
With Ladd McConkey playing through knee pain, Arian Smith took advantage of more practice reps and had 129 yards on 3 catches including a 76-yard touchdown.
“They do a really good job getting their best players the ball,” Dykes said. “And they have a ton of playmakers. That's the thing that's unique about this team. Most of the time you play against a good team and there's two or three guys you say, look, we've got a really take this guy away. But Georgia has just so many good players and guys that are really exceptional talents.”
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Two ways to build a national championship game roster
TCU is an outlier when it comes to the four playoff teams with the makeup of its roster and stands as a contrast to Georgia’s loaded roster with highly-ranked recruits.
Georgia is No. 2 on the 247Sports team talent composite. TCU is No. 32 while Ohio State is No. 3 and Michigan No. 13.
“Coach Dykes inherited a lot of those players and got some through the portal and things,” Smart said. “But you got what you got. And what you do with what you have is what makes you a coach. And he's done a tremendous job with the players that he has and has inherited. I feel like we've done the same with the ones we've gone out and recruited. So I never get too caught up in how it was built.
TCU’s roster includes its share of key players who transferred in: defensive end Dylan Horton (New Mexico), linebacker Johnny Hodges (Navy), cornerback Josh Newton (La.-Monroe), safety Bud Clark (Louisiana) and tight end Jared Wiley (Texas)
Only four power five teams in the AP Top 25 has less recruiting star power on its roster than TCU.
Utah is at No. 33, N.C. State at No. 37, Oregon State at No. 54 and Kansas State is at No. 70.
“If you go back and look at TCU's history, they've always done a really good job of recruiting players particularly in East Texas and guys that were probably under-recruited,” Dykes said. “I know Coach Franchione recruited LaDainian Tomlinson. He was an overlooked high school player from Waco, and he ended up becoming a very good player. You go back and look at history there's been a lot of kids who came from small towns.”
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Bulldogs attack big pass plays given up
Georgia gave up eight touchdown passes in its first 12 games of the season. It has surrendered 7 in the last two games.
LSU and Ohio State have combined to throw for 850 yards on the Bulldogs the last two games.
TCU ranks just ahead of LSU at 269.6 yards per game, which ranks 29th nationally.
“They have a lot of size outside so they can cover you up on the perimeter game and they can launch shots,” Smart said.
Junior Quentin Johnston (59 catches for 1,066 yards and 6 touchdowns) leads the Horned Frogs who have three other wide receivers 29 or more catches: Derius Davis, Taye Barber and Savion Williams.
Johnston is 6-4 and Williams is 6-5.
“Their size on the outside stands out a lot,” Georgia nickel back Javon Bullard said. “We know they've got some very large receivers; big catch radiuses and they can run. Anytime you have that size on the perimeter, whether it's quick game or deep balls, it's always a great matchup.”
Georgia has given up 7 pass plays of 30 or more yards the last two games. TCU is second in the nation with 14 pass plays of 50 or more yards.
“There's a whole lot we can fix as far as I can speak on the defensive side of the ball, communication and things like that, just the basic things like that,” Bullard said, “knowing your leverage, talking. I know we've got to talk better throughout the secondary and things like that
Said Dykes: “Ohio State made some big plays against them. And I'm sure particularly in the passing game, they're going to work to get some of those issues. addressed. And, quite frankly, they just made some contested plays, and Ohio State's got a really good group of wide receivers. And those guys really played well. …Those are the kind of plays that we're going to have to make. We'll have to make some 50/50 ball plays, and we'll have to have our best players step up and play big games, kind of like they did last week.”
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Here are 5 things to know for UGA-TCU in the CFP national championship
