UGA Football: Georgia Seniors Get Their SEC Championship

12/04/2022

ATLANTA — Christopher Smith had been here before. Stetson Bennett had been here before. Kenny McIntosh had been here before.

The top-ranked Georgia football team’s seniors took the field at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday afternoon as the defending national champions and winners of 14 straight games. They had done so much in their careers, but before Saturday, they hadn’t won an SEC championship.

Now they have, beating No. 14 LSU, 50-30, in a game that had a bit of everything. And because of those Georgia seniors, with help from so many others, they have checked off the only item missing from their wildest-dreams bingo card.

“We want to be different than last year’s team, and winning this one is a way to be different,” said sophomore tight end Brock Bowers, who also said that the younger guys were playing for “the older guys, the seniors, who’ve been here but never won it.”

Georgia won the SEC title in 2017, routing Auburn before winning the Rose Bowl and playing for a national championship in this building. The following year, the Bulldogs came up just short to Alabama. In 2019, Georgia played and lost to the Joe Burrow-led LSU juggernaut. One year ago, Georgia came in top-ranked and undefeated, but Alabama walked out with the championship trophy.

This time, Georgia has the trophy, remains undefeated and will surely head into the College Football Playoff as the No. 1 seed. And that will almost certainly mean that the Bulldogs’ semifinal game will be back here in the mostly-friendly confines of the Benz. Keep in mind, that would be the Bulldogs’ third game here this season, after playing six games at Sanford Stadium.

Smith, the fifth-year safety, famously launched Georgia’s run to the national title last season with his Pick 6 against Clemson in the 2021 season opener. On Saturday, Smith returned to the end zone, picking up an LSU field goal blocked by Nazir Stackhouse and returning it 96 yards for the game’s first touchdown.

It was an unusual play, with players from both teams but particularly LSU’s not running after the ball after Stackhouse got his big paw on it. The savvy Smith smartly eyed the Tigers for a moment, saw a huge expanse of green in front of him, and scooped and scored. He had a convoy of blockers, but he didn’t need them.

Smith, who also had an interception in the fourth quarter, said the blocked field goal scenario is one the team goes over often. After the block and after the ball had passed the line of scrimmage, Smith said he looked to the sideline and waited for the go-ahead to pick it up and run with it.

For Georgia’s players on the sideline, like Bowers, they kind of wondered what was happening out on the field.

“I saw the ball spinning on the ground and I kind of looked at the ball and I knew it was still live, and looked at LSU and they all had their backs turned, running to the sideline. I was like, Is someone going to pick it up?” he said wearing a big smile and an SEC champions cap. “And then, (Smith) just returned it.”

Bowers has been one of Bennett’s favorite targets the past two seasons. Bowers, undoutedly one of the best college football players in the country, came into Saturday tied for the team lead with 46 receptions. Against LSU, he led Georgia with six catches for 81 yards and a touchdown.

After Smith’s touchdown put Georgia up 7-0, Bowers’ 3-yard TD catch put the Bulldogs (13-0) in front 14-7 with three seconds left in the first quarter. Earlier in the drive, Bennett hit Bowers for a 5-yard gain, followed on a next play by a 32-yard completion.

Bennett, the sixth-year veteran, was about as sharp as he’s been all season, finishing the game 23 of 29 passing for 274 yards, with all four of his touchdowns passes coming in the first half. Bennett has had a phenomenal season, particularly against the best opponents the Bulldogs have faced.

In his last game at the Benz, the season opener against Oregon, Bennett went 25 of 31 for 368 yards and two touchdowns, and he ran for a score. In the showdown with then-No. 1 Tennessee, Bennett was 17 of 25 for 257 yards and two touchdowns, plus a rushing TD.

“When it’s the SEC Championship, you’ve kind of got to play confident,” Bennett said. “If you don’t, then they’re going to beat you.”

Bowers was asked if “Stetson For Heisman” should be more of a thing.

“You could definitely make a case — a little underrated, in my opinion,” he said.

I couldn’t resist suggesting to Bowers that he might be as well. He just smiled, looked a bit embarassed, and said, “No, sir.”

All week, coach Kirby Smart had stressed to his players, and everyone else, that his team wasn’t looking past this game and already focusing on a return to the playoffs. This team is different from last season’s, with a ton of new faces playing major roles, which may explain in part why this squad hasn’t been as dominant week by week.

Dominant? Sometimes. Resilient? Absolutely. Undefeated? Darn right.

“You guys have tried to label them, tried to figure ’em out, tried to analyze ’em,” Smart said. “They’re not comprehendible. They do what they have to do, and they do it well. They care about each other and they really do it for each other.”

Smart added that there was no greater example of that than the two (somewhat) young men at the formal post-game press conference with him, Smith and Bennett. They’re both veterans and leaders, they’re both playmakers, they’re both, now, finally, SEC champions.

“It feels amazing,” Smith said. “Just coming up short so many times, just to finally be able to get a win, it feels great for sure.”

Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men’s Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He’s also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.