Georgia Football: Mecole Hardman scores national title game’s first TD (Video)

After a quiet first half, scoring-wise, Georgia’s Mecole Hardman put the Bulldogs ahead by 13 with the National Championship’s first touchdown.

It was what everyone thought it would be. The 2018 National Championship was a defensive battle through the first half, but no one should be all that surprised. Both Alabama and Georgia are top-tier defensive teams and they proved it with a grind-it-out 30 minutes of action.

Georgia did, however, take a somewhat commanding lead at halftime, given the amount of effort a comeback would require against the Bulldogs’ defense.

Right before the half, though, sophomore wide receiver Mecole Hardman, a former Alabama recruit, scored the game’s first touchdown to give the Bulldogs a 13-0 advantage.

It wasn’t exactly the kind of score you’d expect from a receiver, but the explosive athlete proved that he could be much more than a pass-catcher, lining up at quarterback and burning Alabama’s defense around the edge.

The first half wasn’t all that exciting for fans who love offense, but the defensive battle has all the feeling of a down-to-the-wire battle. Georgia and Alabama have been trading blows in the first half on the defensive side of the ball, but Hardman and Jake Fromm got the last laugh.

In fact, Fromm finished the first half with 126 passing yards on 11-of-23 completions. He’s been shaky, at times, but overall not bad for a true freshman starting in the national title game.

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Kirby Smart will begin the second half looking for a win over his former boss. Beating his predecessor will be a huge deal because not many coaches have been able to do that to Nick Saban. Luckily, he brought Hardman with him to Athens who helped him get a major leg up at the half.