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Georgia vs TCU: Thoughts, live updates, reactions during the 2023 College Football Playoff National Championship.
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Georgia vs TCU: College Football Playoff National Championship
CFP National Championship Thoughts
First Quarter | Second Quarter
Third Quarter | Fourth Quarter
Georgia vs TCU live updates, thoughts, reactions: Pregame
Dear lord … 24 years in a row I’ve been doing this. I wanted to do this from Los Angeles – never been in SoFi – but couldn’t make it out and had to bail at the last second. Considering the incessant whining coming from everyone I know who’s out there, I’m good.
Last year’s CFP National Championship: Georgia over Alabama
For the moment, all the rain and cold stalls my stumping for every major sporting event to be played in LA and San Diego – if it had the facilities for it – but Miami is still on.
Out of all the ESPN gimmicky gamecasts about to kick in, I’m looking for the one that shows this game being close.
Slightly off-topic … this is the game potentially built for all the different versions. Like the fantastic Manning thing on Monday Night Football, the alternative options are great when the game sucks. When the game is great, you want the announcers of record.
If you have Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit calling a College Football Playoff National Championship, I’m not sure why you need any of the 1,248 other options ESPN has to take away from its No. 1 team.
It’s not TCU’s fault. It has been a magnificent story, and it’s been a fantastic thing for college football just to get here. TCU earned it – there’s no such thing as a cheap run to the College Football Playoff National Championship game.
With all of that said, this would have been a very, very, very different day if it was Michigan vs Georgia. There’s just NO national buzz for this – I’m doing my best. Everyone is far more focused on the NFL Playoffs.
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Excuse me, Stewardess, I speak Nick Saban. The GameDay panel is trying to pump this game up, and Saban is doing his best to be nice about it – he’s all but saying TCU has no shot of handling the Georgia lines.
I agree.
Saban is fantastic on the GameDay pregame show. Even the hardest-core of coaches are great when they get to tell war stories and talk football. Get most of them them out of their lane, though, and there’s a big, big problem.
TCU has made me look ridiculous all year – and I certainly don’t need any help doing that. I’m still arguing that Michigan will win the Fiesta Bowl. With that said, I do think TCU will score, it’ll get the passing game going, and it’ll make this interesting …
For a half.
This isn’t the Georgia defense of last year – TCU will throw on it. The scores will be there, but eventually the Georgia D will generate the third down stops needed
Social media will go nuts – TCU might even be up going into the locker room. And then hell and the Georgia talent will come to breakfast – or to the all bacon-inspired spread traditionally served in the media hospitality area after the national title game.
All I want is a classic battle. I want America to be talking about this all day tomorrow, I want the College Football Playoff National Championship to be great again – last year’s was fine, even if it wasn’t all that well played – and …
Georgia by more than 13.5. It might take a little while to get there, but the last ten minutes will be about the Dawgs.
Let’s have some fun.
CFP National Championship Thoughts
First Quarter | Second Quarter
Third Quarter | Fourth Quarter
NEXT: Georgia vs TCU: College Football Playoff National Championship First Quarter
Georgia vs TCU: College Football Playoff National Championship First Quarter
15:00 Georgia wins the coin toss. TCU gets the ball first. No, TCU can’t out-physical the Dawgs up front, and it doesn’t have Kendre Miller in the backfield. Emari Demercado is good enough to handle the rushing workload, but the Horned Frogs have to get Max Duggan into a groove right away, and …
14:54 False start, TCU. Okay, settle in. This will be rocky for a bit.
14:34 Holy crap Jalen Carter. The Bears are almost certainly going to trade out of the first overall pick, but he’s a franchise defensive tackle who can move. He’s in Chicago if the right deal doesn’t come along.
14:05 Duggan is off early on. TCU can NOT handle a slew of three-and-outs. This isn’t a ball control team, but it has to run the clock a bit.
Georgia on its own 43
13:57 And now it’s Georgia’s turn. False start. Whatever. Start running, Georgia, and keep pounding.
13:45 Oooooooh the TCU 3-3-5 defense …. ooooooooh. It’s a nice scheme, but it’s not like this D is anything special.
13:05 Uh oh … Stetson Bennett is totally locked in. That was a perfect strike to Brock Bowers.
12:30 Let me guess, the Georgia coaching staff want to get Bowers into the game early. TCU is loaded in the secondary, but this is a mismatch.
11:00 Uh oh … Stetson Vick rips off a 21-yard touchdown run. Bennett was MOVING for that. TCU is fast, but it overpursued, Bennett had a wide open lane ….
Uh oh.
Georgia 7, TCU 0
10:44 Okay, TCU. Relax, get the running game going, let Duggan start moving a bit.
10:35 Uh oh … Georgia’s defense playing like it has 14 guys on the field. It’s all over the Horned Frog backfield. TCU is dead if it keeps dealing with third and long situations.
9:41 TCU DESPERATELY needed something positive. That Georgia holding penalty might be the moment when this finally relaxed the Dawgs, and …
9:30 Oh dear lord. TCU gets quirky, Derius Davis fumbles, Georgia football.
Uh oh.
8:56 Georgia can end this now. It has the ball on the TCU 33. It scores a touchdown here, go ahead and do something else, America.
7:39 Uh oh … Bennett is DEALING. TCU has to make big plays to stop the Georgia receivers. Bennett isn’t missing.
7:28 NICE tackle by Mark Perry on Daijun Edwards on third down. Not hyperbole, but he doesn’t wrap on on that and this is over.
6:51 Field goal. TCU still alive, but it needs to go on a march on this next drive, or else.
Georgia 10, TCU 0
6:51 Okay, TCU. You took a big punch. Take a deep breath, now do what you do. Get a positive play … Demercado for four yards …
5:45 BOOM Here we go. Georgia was so freaked out about Quentin Johnson it let Derius Davis alone for a 60-yard play … Demercado down to the six … massive drive from the Horned Frogs.
5:44 Both teams scoring at least seven points in the first quarter was one of my favorite prop bets in this.
4:58 TCU is pounding away in the interior. If the Horned Frog guards can keep being this physical …
4:45 Max Tebow runs it in. Fantastic drive, fantastic few minutes for Duggan. GAME ON.
Georgia 10, TCU 7
4:28 Same thing, other side. Get the Georgia offensive line going, let the …
4:11 Bennett is sharp. That’s a more dangerous timing pass to Ladd McConkey than it might seem.
3:33 TCU has made exactly one good defensive play so far.
3:04 The Dawg O line is tearing up the Horned Frog three-man front. Keep pounding aw…
2:55 Bennett to McConkey for a wide open 37 yard touchdown.
Uh oh.
2:39 First quarter as the highest scoring quarter was a good-value prop bet.
Georgia 17, TCU 7
2:23 Keep on running, TCU. The defense is going to be the defense – it’ll have to figure this out. Don’t panic … yet.
1:51 Demercado is such a load. He’s getting positive yards on every run.
1:25 There we go, Horned Frogs. Move the chains, don’t do anything crazy. Good first down to calm everything down. O at midfield.
0:50 NO NO NO NO NO NO NO. TCU, you were just find with the midrange plays and running, and Duggan drops back to look deep. The Dawg D ended that fast and now it’s 2nd and 18.
First quarter over. Georgia’s offense is way too good so far. Again, TCU can’t panic … yet.
First Quarter: Georgia 17, TCU 7
CFP National Championship Thoughts
First Quarter | Second Quarter
Third Quarter | Fourth Quarter
NEXT: Georgia vs TCU: College Football Playoff National Championship Second Quarter
Georgia vs TCU: College Football Playoff National Championship Second Quarter
14:40 Oh no. TCU OT Andrew Coker is hurt and going to the locker room. The TCU starting 22 is solid, but the O line can’t deal with this Georgia D without the starting five.
13:45 TCU flipped the field. Now it gets a chance to change the narrative with Georgia on its own eight. Get out of this, get the ball back, and …
13:23 Oh dear lord. Stetson Bennett getting time, he’s moving quickly, the offense is moving fast, and two passes to Brock Bowers later, and Georgia is just fine.
12:25 Again, this is a great TCU defense, and it doesn’t have a prayer of keeping up with 19.
11:41 TCU has Georgia 3rd and 10. It can weather this storm with one big stop, and …
11:06 Stetson Vick is too quick. Bennett making the TCU defense look like it’s running in sand as he tears off a first down run.
10:35 Okay, Georgia … NOW take it down just a wee bit. No need to control the clock, but no need to go up tempo.
9:58 TCU is getting zero pressure with this 3-3-5 style. It’s going to have to get funky to get to Bennett, and then it’s in big, big trouble.
9:00 By my rough estimate, the TCU defense has allowed 3,119 yards along with the 63 points over its last 3.5 quarters.
8:58 Oooooooooh … the 3-3-5 defense … oooooooh. Bennett scoots past it all for another touchdown.
Uh oh.
Georgia 24, TCU 7
Enough of the Hollywood story aspect to this just because it’s being played in LA. Hollywood stories suck now with all the super hero cra…. (shakes fist at cloud)
8:26 Again, TCU just run the offense. Don’t go Michigan and try to score three touchdowns with every play. Go on a decent march, take the plays that are there, keep running, and …
7:47 Don’t make mistakes. Holding penalty. 2nd and 15.
7:28 Everyone please check on your THE Ohio State friends and family right now to make sure they’re okay. That Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl was one epic National Championship.
6:19 TCU, what did I JUST say. Don’t try to get it all back in one play. It tries, Duggan just chucks it with no purpose, and it gets picked off.
5:00 Which channel of the ESPN megacast shows Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives reruns?
3:25 Georgia’s offensive line has decided it wants to win the College Football Playoff National Championship.
1:55 Third and long, and … Bowers. No problem. It doesn’t seem fair that TCU is apparently playing defense with nine guys on the field.
1:41 This is my NCAA Tournament line coming true. You show me a first round Central Directional State upset over Superpower U, and I’ll show you an 88-41 second round game.
1:22 At least there’s that Ant Man trailer coming up … my kid won’t allow me to watch it because I haven’t seen the first 39 movies in the series and won’t be able to appreciate it.
1:19 See, Michigan … THAT’S how you run a 1st-and-goal handoff against TCU from the 1.
0:42 Oh great … Georgia gets the ball to start the second half.
0:26 Adonai Mitchell with a BRILLIANT 22-yard touchdown catch. This is just performance art now.
Yeah, Bennett will get all the love and credit in this, but he’s getting enough time to make a panini waiting for his receivers to get open.
Georgia 38, TCU 7
Let this be a lesson to all. Keep dreaming, keep fighting, keep doing things the right way and maybe – just maybe – you, too, can one day be totally crushed by someone with more talent.
CFP National Championship Thoughts
First Quarter | Second Quarter
Third Quarter | Fourth Quarter
NEXT: Georgia vs TCU: College Football Playoff National Championship Third Quarter
Georgia vs TCU: College Football Playoff National Championship Third Quarter
15:00 I’ll put it out there … no, of course TCU won’t comeback and pull off the most epic of comebacks, but it might just win the second half depending on the line you can get.
13:42 TCU forces Georgia to go three-and-out? That was quick.
13:40 Georgia has a punter?
13:30 Of course TCU gets hit with a penalty on the punt return to back up to its own 10. That’s why we can’t have nice things.
12:21 And … that was fun. TCU has to punt.
12:17 It’s okay. I’ll watch so you don’t have to.
12:03 It must be fun to have Brock Bowers to throw to.
11:37 There’s a bad combination with the TCU defense that keeps happening. TCU is allowing Georgia a whole lot of room to move, but at least it’s missing tackles in bunches.
10:58 Bowers is totally unstoppable. Stetson Bennett just hangs it up, and 19 goes to get it.
Everyone with TCU +50 starting to sweat a little.
Georgia 45, TCU 7
No National Championship drama? Look out the window and that 62.5 point total is getting closer and closer.
CFP National Championship Thoughts
First Quarter | Second Quarter
Third Quarter | Fourth Quarter