Ohio State is No Contest for Georgia
Ohio State vs. Georgia, 8 ET
There will be a lot of talk about this game. It is fairly interesting to me that before the Michigan game with Ohio State, this is the matchup many expected to be for the National Championship. So, in a way Georgia gets a chance to win this and prove they could beat anyone no matter the matchup they get.
Ohio State was absolutely rolling this year until they faced Michigan. At home, they looked like a shell of themselves as they turned the ball over and continuously fell apart at the hands of the Wolverines. The game was close for a while but got out of hand late and it looked worse in the 4th quarter than it did for the first three. CJ Stroud still finished this year as a Heisman finalist and had a really strong campaign overall. But, has he proven that he can beat an NFL-caliber defense? I'm not sure I'd support that. You can only play whoever is on your schedule, but they only faced three ranked opponents all season - Notre Dame, Penn State, and Michigan. I think this team is going to struggle to score against Georgia. Maybe their defense can hold their own against a Bulldog offense that is somewhat underrated.
Georgia is looking to get back-to-back National Championships and the only think that stands in their way is a couple of Big 10 teams. Sure, TCU could win, but I doubt that happens. First thing they need to take care of is the Buckeyes. CJ Stroud, as I just mentioned, is a good quarterback, he can beat you through the air or on the ground. Georgia isn't one of those teams that allows opponents much though. They don't really make mental mistakes, they don't get beat often, and they really do a nice job of keeping the ball in front of them. Unless Ohio State is methodical about taking short passes and short runs that just chew up clock and first downs, I don't know how they win this game. Georgia won't be able to just destroy the Ohio State defense either. Stetson Bennett has been a game manager in many ways, but he basically just does what the teams needs him to do. They just need him to protect the ball and they should be able to get what they want.
I don't think this game will be particularly close. Ohio State is a good program, but this Georgia team - not as good as last season, but still very impressive - should be able to coast to victory in this one. I'll take Georgia to cover the -6.5 in this game as they knock off the first part of their path to repeat.
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