UGA gets Ohio State 'in backyard' in third game this season in Mercedes-Benz Stadium
It is the city where Georgia football has experienced many thrills of victory and too many agonies of defeat.
It’s where coach Kirby Smart was hailed at the Georgia State Capitol with the 2021 national championship trophy on hand in March, where the 2017 title slipped away on a pass from Tua Tagovailoa, where the 2012 Bulldogs fell five yards short and where the 2002 UGA team under Mark Richt won the program’s first SEC title in 20 years.
Georgia is back in Atlanta’s Mercedes Benz-Stadium for a third game this season in the College Football Playoff semifinals.
“It’s kind of our second home,” tight end Brock Bowers said.
With a trip to a second straight national title game on the line, a Georgia win over Ohio State in Saturday’s Peach Bowl would be its most significant ever in the city.
“It should be an electric matchup, electric atmosphere,” Smart said.
Ohio State’s first-ever Peach Bowl comes with the extra layer of having to face the 13-0 Bulldogs 70 miles from their campus.
“You're playing the defending national champions in their backyard,” coach Ryan Day said. “So it's going to take everything we have to go on the road to go win this game. I just think that we wanted to be in this situation in the CFP at the end of the year. It took a different road to get here, but we’re here. …How we got here, at this point, I guess, doesn't really matter. Now that we're here, it's time to go play.”
That different road was cracking the four-team playoff after its season looked teetering after a 45-23 loss at home to rival Michigan to end the regular season.
Each school received 13,000 tickets, but Georgia fans that can get their hands on them on the secondary ticket market have an easy ride into the stadium.
“We could have used some more tickets,” Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks said. “We'll take as many as we can get.”
Nearly two weeks after the matchup was set, Georgia zip codes made up 44 percent of ticket buyers and Ohio zip codes accounted for 17 percent, according to TickPick.
Georgia beat Oregon 49-3 to open the season in Mercedes-Benz and LSU 50-30 and Cincinnati in the 2020 Peach Bowl, but the Bulldogs lost to Alabama in the 2021 and 2018 SEC championship games and the 2017 national title game and LSU in the 2019 SEC championship game in Atlanta.
"They got to play there last so they've got a little bit of an advantage,” Ohio State offensive lineman Dawan Jones told reporters.
Georgia played its second game in program history against Auburn in Atlanta in 1892 and and played regularly there in the first three decades including against Sewanee.
Of course, Georgia has played its most games in Atlanta against rival Georgia Tech. The Bulldogs are 37-25-4 against the Yellow Jackets there including 10 straight wins dating back to 1999 when the Bulldogs lost 51-48 in overtime in the game when officials rules Jasper Sanks fumbled and then were suspended for the missed call.
Georgia is 4-2 all-time in the Peach Bowl with games at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, the Georgia Dome and Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Smart played in the Peach Bowl during the 1995 and 1998 season against Virginia, losing 34-27 and winning 35-33
“ I certainly think it's great to be in Atlanta,” Smart said. “It fell that way because in the rotation it was Atlanta's year. We certainly have gone and played in the Rose Bowl out in California, and we've also been to Miami to play in semifinals. I know Ohio State has been all over as well. Once you get to the venue, it's different than when you're coming in for a game and kids have been in classes and they just fly in for the game. It's different when you're there for a whole week. We'll practice at Mercedes Benz. They'll practice at Mercedes Benz. It's not like you're going to walk in there and not have seen the place. The field is the exact same length as any other field we play them on.”
Georgia’s roster includes 78 players from the state. That includes safety Chris Smith, an Atlanta native, receiver Dominck Blaylock from Marietta, offensive tackle Broderick Jones from Lithonia and defensive lineman Nazir Stackhouse from Stone Mountain.
Ohio State has four players from the Atlanta area and three more in its 2023 recruiting class
“Atlanta has been a wonderful place for us in recruiting and we have such great Buckeye fans in that area,” Day said. “I can’t even imagine what the atmosphere is going to be like at 8 o’clock when the foot hits the ball against the Bulldogs.”
Two of quarterback Stetson Bennett’s best games of the season came in Mercedes-Benz.
He threw for 274 yards and four touchdowns in the SEC championship game and passed for a season-high 368 yards in the opening blowout of Oregon.
“We like this place,” Bennett said after the SEC championship win. “We play pretty good here. I don't know if it's the turf or humidity. Good Lord, it was hot in there. …I don't think it's anything about this place in particular. I think we just had a good game plan and went out and executed it.”
Bennett also threw for 340 yards with 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions in the venue in the SEC championship game loss to Alabama last season.
“You can make an argument that we all play better in this stadium,” center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger said near the Georgia locker room after the SEC championship win. “Our fans do a tremendous job for making sure they’re there for us. Having that energy and having the crowd just being on your side, it gives you a different edge, it pushes you more, it makes you want to go a little bit harder.”
Ohio State will be prepared for crowd noise to factor into what it does offensively.
“It’s going to be an electric atmosphere,” Day said. “We’ll be ready for anything. It’s a great venue for a game and certainly I know it’s going to be loud there. Ohio State’s going to travel very, very well, but we’ll also be a ready for a loud environment and make sure we have all the tools ready if we need them.”
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia football gets home state semifinal game against Ohio State
