Let the coronation begin.
Georgia became the first team to repeat as national champion in the College Football Playoff era Monday with a 65-7 win over TCU at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, just nine days removed from its one-point Peach Bowl win against Ohio State on New Year’s Eve. The Bulldogs’ point total set a record for the most scored in any college football national championship game across both the CFP and BCS eras.
BACK-2-BACK CHAMPIONS @GeorgiaFootball | #NationalChampionship pic.twitter.com/iBWC8i5VBK
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 10, 2023
Riding high off their 51-45 win over Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl, the Horned Frogs came crashing back down to reality early in LA. Georgia marched straight down the field to score a touchdown on a 21-yard run by Stetson Bennett on its opening drive, and a TCU fumble on the ensuing possession set up a Bulldog field goal just 4:10 later. TCU returned fire on a five-play, 75-yard touchdown-scoring drive after that, but couldn’t keep Georgia out of the end zone on its next four possessions.
Georgia took a 38-7 lead to halftime, at which point the national championship was already well in hand.
The Bulldogs finished with 589 yards of total offense and Bennett led the way with 304 of those through the air, 39 on the ground and six total touchdowns on the night to cap off a decorated six-year college career. Georgia tight end Brock Bowers caught seven passes for 152 yards and a touchdown and three different Bulldogs rushed for at least one touchdown.
Three first-half TCU turnovers aided the Bulldog effort and Duggan had a disappointing night under center, completing 14 of 22 passes for 152 yards, no passing touchdowns and two interceptions.
Georgia is the first college football team to win back-to-back national championships since Alabama in 2011 and ‘12, and just the second undisputed repeat champion since the dawn of the BCS in 1998.
