Georgia destroys TCU in college football playoffs as Bulldogs win second straight national title

Stetson Bennett threw two touchdown passes and raked in two points in the first half as No. 1 Georgia demolished No. 3 TCU 65-7 Monday night to become the first team to win back-to-back college football playoff national championships.

The Bulldogs (15-0) became the first repeat champions since Alabama went back-to-back a decade ago, leaving no doubt they have replaced the Crimson Tide as the new bullies on the block.

TCU (13-2), the first Cinderella team of the playoff era, never stood a chance against the Georgia juggernaut. Unlike Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl semifinals, the Bulldogs would not succumb to the Hypnotoads’ spell.

Georgia hit one of the all-time best beatdowns in a game that decided a national title, reminiscent of Nebraska overtaking Florida in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl by 38 points, USC’s 36-point win over Oklahoma in the 2005 Orange Bowl, and Alabama’s 28- Points BCS championship blowout over Notre Dame in 2013.

But that was even worse.

Stetson Bennett and the Georgia Bulldogs won their second straight national championship

Bennett had a fairytale ending to his final college game with his hometown school on Monday

Too much talent. Trained too well. Two consecutive titles for Dawgs from trainer Kirby Smart.

Since the BCS began in 1998, no team has scored more points in a national championship game.

With 1:25 still in the fourth quarter, coach Kirby Smart called a timeout in the middle of an offensive drive to allow Bennett to exit to a heroic ovation in the final game of his shaky college career.

He finished 18 for 25 for 304 yards and four touchdown passes and added two on the ground.

Bennett threw for four touchdowns, 304 yards on 18/25 in his second CFB championship win

Bennett appeared in Georgia nearly six years ago when the Bulldogs became college football’s dominant program early in the Bulldogs’ growth.

As Bennett’s unlikely journey traces the path of the Bulldogs’ recent past, Brock Bowers embodies Georgia’s present and future as a powerhouse of outstanding talent who have known nothing but championships for two incredible years.

The quarterback’s remarkable connection to his tight end was evident throughout, and that chemistry played a key role in the Bulldogs becoming champions again.

Bowers finished with seven catches for 152 yards and a touchdown from Bennett, including a 22-yard TD catch that firmly shut the door for the Horned Frogs in the third quarter of that epic blowout.

TCU QB Max Duggan battled an unrelenting Georgia defense and threw two INTs

Bennett is more than five years older than Bowers, but the quarterback bridged that modest generational gap to form a partnership that had one final national showcase at SoFi Stadium.

In the first half, Bennett became the first player in Georgia’s long history to streak for a total of 4,000 yards in his career, with much help from Bowers. He also broke Aaron Murray’s yards-passing record for the Bulldogs in the first half of a season, a fitting accompaniment to a season in which the Bulldogs broke offenses early with passes before heading to wins.

Bennett is older than five quarterbacks on current NFL playoff teams, but he finished 29-3 as a starter at Georgia. Bennett joined Matt Leinart and AJ McCarron as the only quarterbacks to lead their teams to back-to-back national championships in the 21st century, when Georgia became only the fourth team to repeat since 1980.

The Dawgs were dominant from the off, and the lineman enjoyed chicken wings on the touchline

Bowers’ decision to relocate to Athens from Northern California, and its subsequent growth into a footballing juggernaut that inspires comparisons to Travis Kelce, is a prime example of what Georgia has become in recent seasons – a national powerhouse that has players from all over the world Map corners of the world and turn them all into stars.

A 6-foot-4 multisport athlete with incredible speed for his size, Bowers has been a spectacular success since arriving in Georgia in 2021. He’s hosted the Bulldogs for two straight years, playing multiple roles and causing countless headaches for opposing defenses with his strength, speed and versatility.

By late in the third quarter of the title game, Bowers had received more yards than TCU’s total offensive yards.

As the game reached its final moments, the Georgia offensive linemen munched on chicken wings on the sidelines.

Georgia confirmed its place at the top of the college football league with the historic win

Smart is now 81-15 in his first seven seasons in Georgia with two national titles. His mentor, Alabama coach Nick Saban, was 79-15 with three titles in his first seven seasons with The Tide.

The Bulldogs have been a different kind of dominator this season: not quite as stingy on defense but more explosive on offense.

Early in Smart’s tenure at his alma mater, Georgia fans worried about whether the former Saban defensive coordinator would be able to build an offense befitting this high-scoring era of college football.

Under third-year coordinator Todd Monken, the Bulldogs have become offensively prolific, creative and diverse. They chose TCU’s 3-3-5 defense from all angles.