Georgia (13-0), taking part in a digital house recreation at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, took swift benefit and raced to a 35-7 lead in the primary half.
Veteran quarterback Stetson Bennett was excellent, throwing for 274 yards and accounting for 4 touchdowns (all in the primary half) on 23-of-29 passing. And the heads-up Christopher Smith equipped the opposite first-half factors by pouncing on the ball after a blocked LSU subject purpose try and racing 96 yards for a rating whereas the Tigers had been ready for the whistle to blow.
It was that sort of day for Georgia, which hadn’t gained an SEC title since 2017.
“It feels amazing, [after] coming up short so many times,” stated Smith, a senior.
And it was a irritating, hard-fought day for LSU (9-4; No. 14 in College Football Playoff rankings), whose dynamic dual-threat quarterback, junior Jayden Daniels, was lowered to a single menace by an ankle sprain suffered the earlier week. With his mobility clearly restricted, Daniels threw for 208 yards and one landing. But he was intercepted as soon as, sacked 3 times and clearly restricted in the operating recreation.
He was changed halfway by way of by backup Garrett Nussmeier, who acquitted himself properly, throwing for 2 scores and one interception.
But every time LSU narrowed its deficit, Georgia roared again with one other rating.
“Our team kind of played this game like they played the whole season — unbelievably well in spots, and unbelievably poor in spots,” stated Georgia Coach Kirby Smart. “But they answered the bell when they had to.”
The recreation amounted to an offensive explosion, with the groups combining for greater than 1,000 yards. Big performs abounded, made potential by protection lapses.
“The best team won today, but I love the way our guys competed,” LSU Coach Brian Kelly stated. “They fought, and that’s who they are.
Unlike Friday’s Pac-12 championship game, in which Southern California saw its shot at a national title evaporate with a 47-24 loss to Utah, Saturday’s SEC championship game had no national implications.
Georgia, which entered the game with the nation’s longest winning streak, was certain to make the College Football Playoff regardless of the outcome. Its rout of LSU, which extended that winning streak to 15 games, only solidified its No. 1 seed in the postseason.
Until last week, LSU had everything to play for — including a potential berth in the four-team playoff. But instead of seizing the opportunity, the then-fifth-ranked Tigers got stomped by unranked Texas A&M in their regular season finale, tumbled nine spots in the rankings, and, in turn, sapped the SEC title game of appreciable buzz.
That didn’t prevent it from being a party for Smart, his players — none of whom were on the roster when the Bulldogs last won the SEC title — or the heavily partisan crowd of 74,810 who turned the scene into a sea of red jerseys.
In an era of unprecedented flux in college sports, rife with coaching turnover and player transfers, Smart has built Georgia like a sturdy house. Saturday’s game proved a showcase for the explosive playmakers and burly linemen who are the Bulldogs’ foundation.
The offense is led by an experienced, confident quarterback in Bennett, who has come of age in the program. And the defense is a veritable quarry of football talent that stocks the NFL draft’s early rounds each April.
It was a day for many to take bows, including Smith, who added a fourth-quarter interception to his first-quarter touchdown; Kenny McIntosh, who rushed for two second-half touchdowns; a defensive front that recorded four sacks and held LSU to 47 rushing yards; and an offensive line that kept Bennett upright throughout.
“I don’t think I got touched tonight,” Bennett stated. “Our O-line was incredible.”
The main query at kickoff was Daniels’s well being, on condition that he was the Tigers’ main rusher, with 11 touchdowns on the bottom to go together with his 15 by way of the air getting into Saturday’s recreation.
Georgia’s protection made corralling Daniels a precedence from the outset. It was simply finished, with Daniels clearly nonetheless hobbled. As a end result, the Tigers gained simply three dashing yards in the primary half.
LSU appeared poised to attain first. But Georgia’s Nazir Stackhouse blocked its early subject purpose try. And whereas LSU gamers milled about, Smith scooped up the ball and streaked the size of the sector for a landing.
Kelly faulted himself, saying afterward: “It’s our responsibility to have our guys alert; they were not alert, and that falls on coaching, and that falls on my shoulders.”
The Tigers rebounded, with Daniels discovering broad receiver Kayshon Boutte for the tying rating.
A 3-yard landing completion from Bennett to his favourite goal, tight finish Brock Bowers, put Georgia forward, 14-7, as the primary quarter expired. The Bulldogs by no means seemed again.
Another LSU gaffe adopted. After Georgia broke up a Daniels cross, the ball caromed off a Tiger helmet and into the arms of Smael Mondon Jr. The subsequent play, Bennett discovered receiver Ladd McConkey for the 22-yard strike.
The Bulldogs squandered an opportunity to pad the lead when kicker Jack Podlesny’s 43-yard subject purpose try clanged off the upright. But with Georgia driving once more, Bennett related with 6-foot-7 tight finish Darnell Washington in the tip zone to make it 28-7.
LSU’s achievement in reaching the SEC championship exceeded expectations in Kelly’s first season after taking on a Tigers squad that completed lifeless final in the SEC’s western division (6-7, 3-5 SEC) final 12 months.
Kelly remade the squad in fast order, touchdown some prized Louisiana recruits and leveraging the switch portal, which delivered Daniels from Arizona State.
But after final week’s loss to Texas A&M, the Tigers had little to play for Saturday — other than an SEC title. No win — irrespective of how epic — would vault the Tigers into four-team playoff.
Still, regardless of trailing 35-10 at halftime, they introduced new struggle to the second half, outscoring Georgia 20-15 down the stretch. LSU pressured Georgia’s first turnover (a fumble). Nussmeier turned it into an eight-yard strike to slender the deficit, 35-17.
When LSU went for it on fourth and one on the Bulldogs 5-yard-line on its subsequent possession, Georgia’s protection slammed the door, denying a rating and any notion of momentum.