INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Stetson Bennett flashed a wry grin as he walked off the field, stopping to hug coach Kirby Smart as the crowd roared.
It was all standing ovations and sideline snacks in the fourth quarter of the most lopsided bowl season game in college football history.
In emphatic and overwhelming fashion, Georgia became the first team to repeat as College Football Playoff national champions and left no doubt the ’Dawgs are the new bullies on the block.
Bennett threw two touchdown passes and ran for two scores — in the first half — as No. 1 Georgia demolished No. 3 TCU 65-7 on Monday night.
The Bulldogs (15-0) are the first repeat champs in major college football since Alabama went back-to-back a decade ago. There appears to be a new dynasty emerging from the Southeastern Conference.
“We wanted our kids to play without fear,” Smart said. “All year I told them, I said, ‘We ain’t getting hunted guys, we’re doing the hunting, and hunting season’s almost over. We’ve only got one more chance to hunt,’ and we hunted tonight.”
TCU (13-2), the first Cinderella team of the playoff era, never had a chance against the Georgia juggernaut. Unlike Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl semifinal, the Bulldogs would not succumb to the Hypnotoads’ spell.
Georgia turned in one of the all-time beatdowns in a big game, reminiscent of Nebraska running over Florida by 38 points in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl, USC’s 36-point rout of Oklahoma in the 2005 Orange Bowl and Alabama’s 28-point BCS blowout over Notre Dame in 2013.
But this was worse.
Too much talent. Too well-coached. Two straight titles for the mean machine in red and black, as the song goes.
No team has ever scored more points in a national championship game, dating to the beginning of the BCS in 1998.
With 13:25 left in the fourth quarter, Smart called timeout in the middle of an offensive drive so Bennett could exit to a hero’s ovation in the final game of his circuitous college career.
“That was special,” said Bennett, who finished 18 for 25 for 304 yards and four touchdown passes. “I’ll remember that for the rest of my life.”
The Bulldogs were munching on chicken wings on the sideline as the game wound down. Then, for the second straight year, the Bulldogs were showered by confetti and presented a championship trophy.
“I love this team, I love those fans, I love our band. I love everybody,” Bennett said during the presentation ceremony. “Back-to-back, baby. Back-to-back.”
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