With 1:38 to go in the first half, Jermaine Burton cruised past cornerback Vincent Gray for a 53-yard touchdown from Bennett. "[Alabama] did a great job against us, and I think they've left a little bit of hunger there for us to get an opportunity to go back out there and play again," said defensive coordinator Dan Lanning, who's pulling double duty in the playoff after being hired as Oregon's new head coach. Outgoing Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning termed his guys performance against Alabama as a hiccup., More:Georgia losing defensive coordinator Dan Lanning to Oregon head coaching job. South Carolina (13), Tennessee (17) and Alabama (41) are the only exceptions. It put Georgia up 14-0, capping a six-play, 59-yard drive. Different vibe for Derion Kendrick in the College Football Playoff this time around pic.twitter.com/Xwnpe4XIWp. Here are five thoughts. Michigan produced four plays of 20 or more yards, but a couple of those came with the game long decided. "But you can't dwell on the past. Cook said he was surprised that Monken called the play because he thought "Hold on, I know he ain't going to call this and he didn't throw a good pass all week. "I think it's amazing to have a guy his age block out all the noise and just focus harder.". Good. 2 Michigan in a College Football Playoff national semifinal 34-11Friday night in the Orange Bowl. I thought Stetson did anincredible job of getting the ball in the air.". Still, those negative thoughts creep into his head often enough that it'd be impossible to suggest Alabama's 41-24 win over the seemingly invincible Bulldogs was completely behind him. Or, as linebacker Quay Walker put it: "You can only do three things: Focus on us, Michigan, and what we can do to get better.". Georgia leads 34-3 in the fourth quarter. All rights reserved. Does Georgia become Charlie Brown, inevitably falling on its butt when Lucy pulls the football away? Good luck to them moving forward.". Heisman Trophy runner-up Aidian Hutchinson, who entered with 14 sacks, went without a sack. But at the same time, we're on another opponent, so it's a new game plan.". Radio sideline reporter D.J. Lanning had a play sheet attached to his waist and was calling plays as usual. Georgia still has allowed just three rushing touchdowns. capping a nearly-perfect year with basically a perfect game. The Crimson Tide rushed for 301 yards after leaning heavily on Young and the passing game against Georgia. ", Added Michigan WR Mike Sainristil: "Looking at the film [of the Alabama game], we understand where they can be attacked and we just want to keep attacking those spots.". Or is it simply Georgia itself? Unless it involves confetti and a Gatorade bath, no satisfying ending exists for a season like the one Michigan just had. "A lot of those guys will be playing on Sundays. Michigan observations: What will it take for the Wolverines to win on this stage? The last was Thomas Brown to quarterback Joe Tereshinski for 9 yards against Florida in 2005. Georgia did a rare trick play of their own for its second score of the game.
An inspired Orange Bowl performance gives Georgia one more bite at Alabama. Smith II played in 10 games this season. Perhaps that humbling in the SEC championship game was the needed antidote. No. It was seemingly without a challenger. Cook contributed more out of the backfield as a pass-catcher than a traditional running back. It just stopped. "The resiliency, the bounce back, the amount of character, I've seen it all year," Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. All that stands in the way once again is Alabama, the team that drilled the Bulldogs 41-24 nearly four weeks earlier and earned another trip to the title game by downing Cincinnati 27-6 earlier Friday in the Cotton Bowl. Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett threw for 307 yards and 3 touchdowns to bounce back from a frustrating SEC championship game performance. And if it is the Tide, the next round of questions will sound awfully familiar. 3 Clemson. Georgia's defense -- lauded through the first 12 games of the season as an immovable force, a unit that allowed just eight touchdowns all year before Alabama hung 41 points on it -- could make changes, tweak the scheme, dive deep into the film of Bryce Young scorching the secondary and find ways to adjust. Follow the grant of rights, NFL scouts pick sleepers to watch for the 2023 draft: QBs who could rise and names to know, Ranking the 40 most impactful transfers over the past five years, Recruiting notebook: Inside Miami's surge, future commitments and more, Football recruiting class rankings: Oregon, LSU catapult to top 10 while Alabama, USC fall, 45 minority coaches under 45 to watch for future Division I head-coaching jobs, Secret meetings and survival mode: Inside the stunning USC-UCLA move and the chaos it caused, Lanning to call plays for Georgia defense vs. U-M, UGA, in COVID 'hot spot,' tries to avoid outbreak, College football bowl season takeaways: Analysis of every game, Players, storylines for every bowl game . Scoring just 11 points tonight, Michigan finished with the third-fewest points in Jim Harbaugh's time as Wolverines' head coach. This Georgia team carries the weight of history -- of 41 years without a national championship, of a single month of frustration following the latest loss to the Tide. If Georgia can keep Michigan under 20, this will be the 11th program in 2021 the Bulldogs have held to a season low in points. They took apart their next opponent. Georgia wasn't just the No. You can follow us for future coverage by clicking "Follow" on the top right-hand corner of the page. Here are takeaways from a semifinal win that moved the Bulldogs to 13-1 on the season, tying a program record for wins: Twenty-seven days after Stetson Bennetts showing against Alabama bubbled up plenty of talk that Georgia needed to make a change at quarterback, coaches stayed true to their word and stuck with Bennett. Once again, the appearance of another potential first-round pick hasn't gained much of the attention of the national media until Friday night against Michigan. CFP preview | Schedule | Takeaways 2 Oklahoma 54-48 in double overtime in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 2018. Michigan has pulled out the stops this season to good success with flea-flickers and halfback passes. Michigan's last three possessions have ended in two interceptions and a fumble. Through his first two seasons as the starter at right tackle, McClendon continues to shine and gains the attention of analysts and scouts alike for his pass protection. ", "They listen to everybody talk about those guys rushing, and Jamaree and and Warren are good pass protectors," Smart said. And a ticked-off Georgia football team gets yet another shot at Alabama. The Orange Bowl score remains 27-3, but Georgia continues to pull away with nearly double Michigan's total yards (400 compared to about 200). In almost every area, the Wolverines came up short. Also, be sure to like us on Facebook @BulldogMaven & follow us on Twitter at @BulldogsSI.
The following year, Alabama turned to then-backup quarterback Jalen Hurts to spark a 35-28 win and take home the SEC. As Smart noted, while so many outsiders looked at Georgia's defense as something just shy of miraculous throughout the first 12 games of 2021, the coaching staff still saw flaws. Paced byquarterback Stetson Bennett IV, who completed 21 of 30 throws for 307 yards and three scores, and a defense loaded with NFL talent, Georgia pulled out to a 14-0 lead with just under five minutes left in the first quarter and led 17-0 after adding a field goal three minutes into the second. The win also saw the stock of several Georgia players rise in the winning effort. Georgia won its second game against a top 3 opponent this season. "We went to the doctor, seen what hurt us, what we didn't do, how we didn't execute," Georgia linebacker Nakobe Dean said. "We're not going to be the same team from last game to this game with Michigan," Davis said. Because they were at this point four years ago and it didnt end well. "We just wanted to make sure that we were dominant and physical up front," said nose guard Jordan Davis, who had two tackles including one for loss. On defense, Georgia focused on shutting down the Wolverines' running game and putting pressure on quarterback Cade McNamara, who threw for only 106 yards and had two interceptions. Follow Brooks Austin on Twitter: @BrooksAustinSI. Further updates after I make my seat selections. Previews: Fiesta | Rose | Sugar , "It definitely didn't put doubt in my mind about our defense," defensive back Chris Smith said. Ojabo chased down Bennett in the third quarter who threw incomplete but took a shot as he unloaded by another Michigan pass rusher. On a third-and-12 in the third quarter, Aidan Hutchinson rushed off the left side but Bennett unloaded quickly to Kenny McIntosh for 18 yards.
We learned something about Georgia Friday night. Superlatives for 2022 recruits, 'With distance comes clarity': Bronco Mendenhall's time away from football, and what comes next, Alabama (as usual) team to beat, but potential runs deep in SEC West. Georgia showed it is still a force to be reckoned by rocking the Wolverines by running out to a 27-3 halftime lead before 66,839 Hard Rock Stadium. Jordan Davis knows what he's supposed to say now -- that the SEC championship game was weeks ago, that Georgia's loss was a setback but hardly the end of the journey, that the Bulldogs' date with Michigan in the College Football Playoff (Friday, 7:30 p.m. Michigan has scored on just one of its five drives tonight. "He's been really focused the last couple of weeks," Smart said. What changes can we make that would be beneficial for us? Michigans vaunted rushing game was held to 88 yards on 27carries just 3.3yards per carry. That was a good pass. That's all our kids have heard about for three weeks. It had been quite a long time since a running back threw a touchdown pass for the Bulldogs. Running back James Cook did not play in Georgia's Peach Bowl victory a year ago versus Cincinnati due to the unexpected passing of his father just a day before the game. Four weeks after getting run over by Alabama in the SEC championship game, which had led some to wonder if the Bulldogs really were all that, they responded as only great teams do. As of right now, Salyer is not seen as a first-round pick in the eyes of many draft analysts, but that does not mean one isn't on the roster for Georgia playing in the trenches offensively. Is it Alabama, whose long shadow looms over anything Georgia does at this point? Bennett completed his first nine attempts and had 234 yards at halftime, delivering a series of highlight-reel throws down the sideline and answering any questions about his ability to lead the Bulldogs to the championship game. No. It's something the coaching staff preached throughout the year -- brutal honesty about technique and execution, Smart said.