The much-awaited college football championship is finally here and will be played Monday January 9th, 2023, between the Georgia Bulldogs and the TCU Horned Frogs in SoFi stadium in Inglewood, CA. This is the third appearance for Georgia in the College Football Playoff CFP championship and the first for TCU. Georgia is looking to become back-to-back champions for the first time since Alabama did it in 2011 and 2012.
Georgia was preseason ranked #3 in both the AP and Coaches polls. TCU was preseason ranked, wait for it…, they were not even ranked in the top 25 in the preseason if you can believe it. They did not even receive a single vote in either the preseason AP or the Coaches poll. Nebraska even garnered one vote in the AP poll.
The Bulldogs are led by super senior QB Stetson Bennett the IV #13 and have gone through the entire season undefeated. They had two close calls, one at Missouri on October 1st that took two late 4th quarter TD drives to win, and the other last week in the epic comeback against Ohio State in the CFP semifinal Peach Bowl game in Atlanta. The ‘Dawgs’ as their fans affectionately refer to them run a 3-4 defensive scheme but can lineup in multiple fronts. Sometimes they keep 4 backers in the game and their front will look like a traditional 3-4 with the LBs often off the line of scrimmage (LOS) a yard or two. Other times they will rotate in a 4th DE and go with a 4-3 front depending on the situation for the Offense. Then they can also get into a 3-3-5 look with one of the LBs replaced with a nickel safety. This is how Georgia has been able to match up with the best offensive teams by staying multiple to take away space and mismatches.
Offensively the Dawgs run a zone read spread Offense but can get into 10, 11, and 12 personnel sets. The first # designates number of backs in the backfield and the second designates the number of tight ends inside on the LOS. Their greatest weapon in the passing game is their All-American TE Brock Bowers #19. They can line him up outside in 10 sets with one running back and 4 out wide. Or they can move him down on the LOS in 11 sets or pair him with another TE in 12 sets when they want to go power. He is not only a great receiving threat but an excellent blocker and can delay block release to get open for key gains or big plays. Georgia’s top true WR, Ladd McConkey #84 has been battling jumper’s knee issues with swelling and that limited his playing time in the semifinal. Kenny McIntosh #6, their RB is also a great pass catcher and is dangerous in space with his athleticism.
The Horned Frogs on Defense play a 3-3-5 front but will go to a 5-2-4 front in short yardage situations. Three of their top 4 tacklers are linebackers, led by Johnny Hodges #57 out of Darnestown, MD. They also have the Jim Thorpe Award winner, Tre’vius Hodges-Tomlinson #1 at cornerback who has 14 pass deflections to go along with 3 interceptions. Bud Clark #26 at safety has the most interceptions on the team with 5 including a big one against Michigan early in the game for a TD. Look for TCU to try and get him matched up on Brock Bowers since Clark has size at 6’2” in height.
TCU is led by another super senior QB in Max Duggan #15, who won both the Davey O’Brien and Johnny Unitas award for the 2022 season. Like the Dawgs, the Frogs run the zone read and do it a lot out of 10 personnel fronts. Their top two running backs Kendre Miller #33 and Emari Demercado #3 do well in space running behind their All-Conference center Steve Avila #79. Miller is coming off an ankle sprain against Michigan and may be limited in his cuts and speed against Georgia. TCU’s biggest threat in the passing game is Quentin Johnston #1 at WR with his 4.3 40 speed and large size at 6’4” creating a big mismatch in space. Prior to the Michigan game he was limited with a high ankle sprain but is now healthy and ready to wreak havoc in the Georgia secondary.
As is often the case the game will come down to which team makes more big plays. As with all football teams late in the season, injuries and health also play a big role in having your best players available to make you hard to defend on Offense. TCU’s Kendre Miller will be questionable at RB along with Ladd McConkey for Georgia at WR. I would expect Georgia to rely more heavily on Brock Bowers to get him involved earlier in the game unlike the semifinal where he didn’t get a lot of receptions until the second half. If Georgia can shut down the TCU run game, it will prevent TCU from matching scores with them and prevent them from establishing a play calling rhythm. However, it looks to be a close game if Miller is healthy and should be very entertaining.
