Georgia blows out TCU in the College National Championship. Are they the next football dynasty?
The outcome of a College Football Playoff national title game can sometimes be boiled down to the simplest of summations: One team had far more talent than the other.
Monday night’s game between Georgia and TCU was a showcase of the Bulldogs’ talent.
The Bulldogs’ 65-7 win for a second consecutive national title will end up being the second act of college football’s next dynasty. The first team in the College Football Playoff era to win back-to-back titles in Georgia and the first since Alabama in 2011 and 2012 to repeat.
The biggest point spread ahead of any title game dating back to the start of the BCS in 1998 was 14 points, with Georgia as the favorite over the Horned Frogs at kickoff. The Bulldogs had the spread covered with 8:30 to go in the second quarter.
At nearly every position on the field, Georgia looked bigger, stronger, and faster than TCU. Brock Bowers, Ladd McConkey, and AD Mitchell made tough catches over TCU defenders. Holes were opened by the Bulldogs’ offensive line against TCU’s front seven. The first and second units combined for five sacks of Max Duggan by relentless pressure from Georgia’s defense.
TCU was outmatched in every aspect of the game. A Georgia defender was always there when the Horned Frogs tried to get a player to the edge. Almost a third of TCU’s 188 yards of total offense came from one play- when the Georgia secondary miscommunicated and left Derius Davis wide open for a 60-yard catch and run.
Could Georgia be college football’s next dynasty?
Nick Saban’s “process” at Alabama, which has led to six national titles in his 16 seasons with the school, has been widely discussed and written about. Smart has clearly taken what he learned from nine seasons as an assistant to Saban at Alabama and added his own elements to it at Georgia.
In an attempt to keep his players focused, Saban has long been fond of calling glowing media coverage of Alabama’s success “rat poison.” Smart followed the same strategy as that team did after the game on Monday night.
“Entitlement is the disease that creeps into your program,” Smart said.
It’s hard to see when any sense of entitlement is going to creep in among the student body at Georgia anytime soon. 2
A few players, such as Bennett and defensive tackle Jalen Carter, will head to the NFL, but Bowers, Mondon, and Starks will return, along with the 2023 recruiting class that ranks No. 2. There are 2 five-star recruits and 21 four-star recruits in the country.
The supply of talent to Athens is not going to end anytime soon. Smart is not getting complacent either. The combination of those two factors is dangerous for the rest of college football.
