SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
It’s over, it was a crushing defeat as Georgia gave Texas Christian University a historic shellacking, the Dawgs squashed the Frogs to the tune of 65-7.
Only the pre-game festivities at So-Fi Stadium, home of the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams in Inglewood, Calif., was inviting. It was a packed house, and the late Las Vegas odds had lowered the undefeated, top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs from an early line of 14 and one-half points to 12 and a half.
Did it matter? No way, it began with the opening possession by Georgia, four plays and a 7-0 lead. Next came its defense and a 10-0 lead on a TCU fumble on its second snap. It was the Bulldogs then coming up short on fourth and three and converting a 43-yard field goal.
Opps, it then became worse, 16-0 when Georgia ran four plays and tallied on a 6-yard scamper by quarterback Stetson Bennett. The first of a load of PATs upped it to 17-0 when the once-beaten Horned Frogs got the ball back. That was its one moment of joy both on the field the sidelines and in the stands where the purple and white found some hope.
There you go, their quarterback Max Duggan unlatched a second down fling from his own 45 to wide receiver Quentin Johnson and he tugged it in on the 11-yard sideline before going out of bounds.
Two plays later, Duggan scrambled down the middle to score, and believe it, TCU was on the scoreboard. The point-after was good but for the remainder of the whipping, nothing else was good for the No. 3-ranked Horned Frogs who stunned No. 2 Michigan, 51-45, in the Fiesta Bowl national semifinals.
The Peach Bowl went to Georgia less than an hour after that final when it got past No. 4 Ohio State, 42-41, at midnight just as the New Year’s Eve ball dropped from Times Square.
That set up the title tilt, but it was nothing compared to the Wolverines going down and Ohio State, who they defeated in Columbus, just missing out when the Bulldogs broke a 39-39 tie on the final play of the tittle tussle.
So let’s go back to one of the key tests for the defending champion Bulldogs. After roaring and growling their way past nine straight opponents, two via shutouts, and one close one, a 26-22 result at Missouri, they welcomed a red-hot Tennessee team.
The Volunteers, with Peyton Manning, their number one all-time football player looking on wearing a orange cap and orange and while jersey, they got to 7-0 with wins over 17th-ranked Pittsburgh in overtime, 38-33 over 20th-ranked Florida, and 25th-ranked LSU, 52-47, and the 44-6 rout over 19th-ranked Kentucky had them now No. 1 and headed for the Saturday showdown at Athens.
But Georgia was a bit too much even with Manning cheering for his alma mater from a reserved seat in the VIP section. It was the Bulldogs on top 26-13, they were to retake the top spot, and that was it for anyone else trying to get to the top of the heap.
It was Georgia’s to keep and as TCU found out, everyone else tumbled behind them with the possible exception of the close win over the Buckeyes.
That’s that, another one for veteran head coach Kirby Smart, and nothing more to add to this overwhelming, even unexpected, again historic shellacking.
