Everybody loves an underdog, EVERYBODY. We as humans find ourselves drawn into the underdog. Whether in movies, from Sylvester Stallone in “Rocky” rising up from nothing to fight Apollo Creed, to the 1980 Winter Olympics where a young and scrawny USA hockey team rose up to beat the mighty Soviet Union. As we all will watch on New Year’s Eve before the ball drops, four teams will try to mark their names in college football history with two teams coming in as …. Underdogs.

Georgia vs. Ohio ST

Georgia comes in hot, really hot. By hot I mean winning twenty seven of the last twenty eight games. Their only loss came in the SEC championship vs. Alabama last year. They are undefeated this year, and feeling good after crushing LSU in the SEC championship game. Georgia runs a basic, yet hard-to-stop offense. It is not pretty, but it works as the stats show. Georgia averages over 200 yards on the ground per game, which ranks 3rd in the SEC. They do not see a drop off in the pass game.. Stetson Bennett, nicknamed the “mailman” (because he always delivers in big games), averages over 260 yards per game in the air. Bennett is coming off a 4 TD game last week vs LSU. This veteran QB has loads of weapons, including a stacked tight-end arsenal. They include arguably the best tight ends in the country with Brock Bowers and big 6-7 Darnell Washington, who have early been staples for the Georgia offense.

Georgia’s defense also dominates. According to ESPN they allow only 77 rush yards per game and only 2.94 yards per carry.

If anyone can match up talent-wise with Georgia, it’s Ryan Day’s Ohio State Buckeyes. The offense is obviously the Bucks’ strong side of the ball, averaging over 44 points per game (which is third in the country) and 492 total yards per game (which is 6th in the nation). They have talent all over the field, including a WR group that includes one of the best wide receivers in the country in Marvin Harrison,Jr. Additionally they get help from other young guys like Emeka Egbuka and Julian Fleming. The running back position is talented, but the 1-2 punch with Williams and Henderson have been banged up for most of the season. Ohio State brought in new Defensive Coordinator Jim Knowles from Oklahoma State to solve the 2021 defensive problems. Although the defense has been better this year, they failed again to make big stops against their arch rival Michigan.

What will happen, does OSU actually have a shot?

Do I think OSU has a real shot to win? No. But do I think that Ohio State could keep it close? Definitely. Ohio State has the talent, they match up with Georgia as well as any team. But I have trouble believing that Ohio State could play 60 minutes of hard football without falling apart, nor could CJ Stroud win a big game. What also worries me is the ineffectiveness of the Buckeyes to run the ball. The way to come back in a hard fought game is to run the ball successfully and  control the line of scrimmage. Michigan did this when they beat Ohio State in Columbus two weeks ago. Running the ball will also be a struggle because  Williams and Henderson, the 1-2 punch in Ohio State’s depth chart, both are banged up.  And as I stressed, although CJ Stroud is great, he cannot carry this team on his back and will need more help. Because of that, the defense needs to step up.  I wonder if they can. One thing that defines Georgia is tough smash-mouth football. A similar game plan to what Michigan followed when they traveled into Columbus weeks ago, the Ohio State defense couldn’t stop the run and they got worn down by Michigan’s toughness in the second half. Georgia will ultimately look to follow the same game plan. The starting QB for Georgia, Stennson Bennett, is a winner, a guy who was deep in the depth chart in 2021 before the season and has only lost one game while starting. Bennet also is mechanically mpressive, a team leader who doesn’t make mistakes.

Prediction

Although Ohio State will keep it close into the half, Georgia, led by their toughness and mistake- free football, will run away late vs Ohio State. Though Stroud will have a good game, the ineffective run game will bring too much pressure to him. Georgia will wear Ohio State’s defensive line down early and open the flood gates to a dominant rushing game. Bennet will play mistake free football and lead Georgia to a second straight national championship appearance.

 Predicted Score: Ohio State 21 Georgia 34