LOS ANGELES — Stetson Bennett accounted for six touchdowns and the Georgia defense forced three turnovers as the Bulldogs routed the TCU Horned Frogs 65-7 to win the National Championship on Monday night.
Bennett capped off a stellar season, completing 18 of his 25 pass attempts for 304 yards and four touchdown scores. He also ran for 39 yards and two scores of 21 and 6 yards.
The Georgia (15-0) defense smothered Matt Duggan and the TCU offense — who scored 51 points against Michigan in the semifinal — allowing just 188 total yards, with 75 coming on their only scoring drive of the game.
On the flip side, TCU's defense had no answer for Bennett and the Bulldog offense, who scored on all six of its first half possessions and piled up almost 600 yards of offense.
Things began to fall apart early for TCU, as Derivs Davis had the ball stripped from him on their second possession of the game and the Bulldogs converted the turnover into a field goal to take an early 10-0 lead.
Following an interception, the Bulldogs put together an 11-play, 66-yard drive that melted 5:15 off the clock that finished with a one-yard plunge by Kendall Milton to give Georgia a 31-7 lead with 1:19 remaining before halftime.
The Horned Frogs (13-2) got the ball and tried to mount one last drive for points, but the decision proved costly as Javon Bullard stepped in front of a Duggan pass for the interception and gave the Bulldogs the ball at the TCU 22.
Two plays later Stetson would go up top to Adonai Mitchell for a 22-yard score and give the Bulldogs a commanding 38-7 lead at the break.
Bennett would go on to add two more passing scores and Branson Robinson would add two rushing score to put an exclamation point on an undefeated season.
For TCU, their dream season came to a disappointing end.
After a 5-7 campaign in 2021 and entering 2022 with a first year head coach, the Horned Frogs were unranked in the preseason polls and picked to finish seventh in the Big 12.
Brock Bowers lead all receivers with 152 yards on seven catches and score. Ladd McConkey tallied 88 yards and two touchdowns.
Duggan finished the game 14 of 22 for 152 yards and Davis caught five passes for 101 yards for TCU.
The Bulldogs became the first team to win back-to-back championships since the 2011 and 2012 Alabama Crimson Tide teams.
TCU 7 0 0 0 = 7
Georgia 17 21 14 14 = 65
First Quarter
UGA—Stetson Bennett 21 run (Jack Podlesny kick), 11:01.
UGA—Jack Podlesny 24 field goal, 6:51.
TCU—Jake Duggan 2 run (Griffin Kell kick), 4:45.
UGA—Ladd McConkey 37 pass from Stetson Bennett (Jack Podlesny kick), 2:43.
Second Quarter
UGA—Stetson Bennett 6 run (Jack Podlesny kick), 8:30.
UGA—Kendall Milton 1 run (Jack Podlesny kick), 1:19.
UGA—Adonai Mitchell 22 pass from Setson Benett (Jack Podlesny kick), 0:26.
Third Quarter
UGA—Brock Bowers 22 pass from Stetson Bennett (Jack Podlesny kick), 10:52.
UGA—Ladd McConkey 14 pass from Stetson Bennett (Jack Podlesny kick), 2:17.
Fourth Quarter
UGA—Branson Robinson 1 run (Jack Podlesny kick), 9:24.
UGA—Branson Robinson 19 run (Jack Podlesny kick), 7:23.
TCU UGA
First downs 9 32
Rushes-yards 28-36 44-254
Passing yards 152 335
Total yards 188 589
Cmp-Att-Int 14-23-2 20-28-0
Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0
Penalties-yards 5-50 4-30
Punts-average 4-38.8 1-48.0
Time of Poss. 23:01 36:59
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