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3 takeaways from Georgia’s Peach Bowl win over Ohio State

By Michael Thompson

Dec 31, 2022; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Georgia Bulldogs players celebrate as Ohio State Buckeyes place kicker Noah Ruggles (95) misses a 50 yard field goal in the final seconds of the second half of the Peach Bowl in the College Football Playoff semifinal at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Adam Cairns-The Columbus DispatchNcaa Football Peach Bowl Ohio State At Georgia
Dec 31, 2022; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Georgia Bulldogs players celebrate as Ohio State Buckeyes place kicker Noah Ruggles (95) misses a 50 yard field goal in the final seconds of the second half of the Peach Bowl in the College Football Playoff semifinal at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Adam Cairns-The Columbus DispatchNcaa Football Peach Bowl Ohio State At Georgia /
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In what may go down as one of the greatest days in the history of college football, the defending champion Georgia Bulldogs stormed back, and then hold on for dear life over the Ohio State Buckeyes for a 42-41 win in an instant classic at the Peach Bowl.

Georgia football appeared to be on the ropes the entire night, trailing by two touchdowns for most of the game thanks to truly incredible performances by Marvin Harrison Jr and CJ Stroud.

Trailing 38-24 with just over 10 minutes left to play, Georgia stormed back on an 18-3 run, and yet their fate lay in the hands of Buckeye kicker Noah Ruggles with just a few seconds left. Luckily for them and a heavy pro-Georgia football crowd, Ruggles over-kicked the football, hooking it wide to the left, and the champs moved on.

It was a special day for college football.

As we inch closer and closer to the end of the four-team playoff and welcome a 12-team field, the history of the four-team playoff is a dark one.

In the previous eight years and 16 semifinal bowl games, we had to only three games be a one-score game. On New Year’s Eve, we saw two instant classics.

While talented teams like Alabama and USC were good enough to make the playoff, it was clear that all four playoff teams belonged. This should make college football fans excited at the prospect of a 12-team field. The 12- team field should weed out the undeserving, and we should expect far more competitive playoff bowls in the future.

Here are three takeaways from the Peach Bowl

3. CJ Stroud and Marvin Harrison Jr. were the best players on the field

This is no shot at Georgia, and we’ll give them their flowers shortly, but let’s take a moment to remember how incredible Ohio State’s stars were tonight.

Let’s start with Marvin Harrison Jr. The future NFL superstar was the best player I saw playing college football on Saturday, and there were some incredible bowl performances. In three quarters, Harrison Jr caught 5 passes for 106 yards and 2 touchdowns. His size, speed, burst, and twitch made him unstoppable, and that was with an elite championship secondary trying to catch him.

It will be interesting to see who will be the next quarterback at OSU next year, but Harrison will be a legitimate threat to win every major award, as he hopes to lead his team back to this position in 2023.

Earlier in the day, Bryce Young was fantastic in his final collegiate game, defeating Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl. For the next few hours, Young was a lock to go #1 in the NFL draft. After tonight’s gutsy performance by CJ Stroud, it’s anybody’s guess who’ll be the top quarterback selected.

Stroud, who has faced criticism his entire career in Columbus, looked every part of a franchise quarterback. Stroud went into the Georgia Dawg house and finished 23/34 for 348 yards passing with 4 touchdowns and zero turnovers.

He lost Harrison to an injury and his defense couldn’t get a stop on the final two drives, but Stroud still found a way to drive his team into field goal position with less than a minute to go. It may not be the ending Stroud wanted, but his destruction of the great Georgia defense made him a big-time winner in the long run.

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