Georgia Football: UGA Players of the Rose Bowl Victory

5. Roquan Smith

I have to admit, I never thought that I would ever put Roquan this low on a list. It’s almost become accepted that Smith will be the best player on the field for Georgia. He might well have been again, but there were 4 other players who somehow had better games.

But that shouldn’t take anything away from Smith. Once again, Roquan was everywhere all game. It was clear in the first half just how much UGA missed Natrez Patrick. Smith can’t do everything and with no Patrick in there, Georgia was gashed on the ground.

But it was back to normal in the second half. Smith somehow was able to spy on Mayfield and tackle OU’s running backs at the same time. He also covered the Sooners tight end Mark Andrews for most of the game. Andrews was an insane weapon this season and yet Smith held him to just 4 catches and 52 yards. This is a player who had 8 TD’s this season, that’s more than Javon Wims.

Smith pretty much shut him down. But of course, he wasn’t done. Smith had ‘his moment’ in the first overtime period. With Georgia only making a field goal, they needed to stop OU. The Sooners just needed 2 yards to keep their drive going. They ran a quick end around with Jordan Smallwood, who had space and the angle on Smith.

But Smith stopped him. Dead. When UGA did not have a yard to give, Smith hit Smallwood so hard, that he had nowhere to go but backward. If it was anyone but Smith, it would have been the play of their life. For Roquan, it’s just another day in the office.