Georgia football: Top performers from the Bulldogs win over Oklahoma
Sony Michel
There was no bigger hero Monday than Sony Michel. The senior tailback has spent his entire career as no. 2 to Chubb’s no. 1. Even when Chubb was injured in 2015 and Sony carried the load, everyone still talked about Chubb. It didn’t help that even play caller Brian Schottenheimer never allowed the offense to revolve around Michel.
He’s been mislabeled as a scat back by the talking heads. Everyone said Michel just brought the speed while Chubb brought the power. Anything and everything that could be said to minimize his ability was said from 2014-to-2017 by someone.
But the nation learned its lesson Monday. Michel isn’t a scat back, he’s an all-around running back. He’s not the no. 2 back on Georgia’s team, he’s no. 1B. In just 11 caries, Michel proved that he is one of the best backs in America with or without Chubb.
In those 11 carries, Michel rushed for 181 yards with three touchdowns. He also caught four passes for 41 yards and a score. That’s 222 yards of total offense with four touchdowns. Easily the player of the game Monday.
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Now this came as no surprise to the Bulldog nation. Him getting wide open and then turning on a dime to outrun defenders to the pylon for Georgia’s first touchdown was a routine play for Michel in the eyes of Georgia fans.
His touchdown runs of 75 and 38 yards where he ran through a large hole straight into the end zone? Georgia fans knew that was a score the second he reached the secondary. And that last touchdown to win the game. All of us have seen enough Sony Michel to know, as soon as he turned the corner, he was gone.
Gone he was. In just 27 yards, he sent Georgia back to Atlanta to play for a National Championship. It’s amazing to think that just minutes earlier, he fumbled the ball to the opponents for the first time since 2014. And Oklahoma scored on that play to take the lead.
Michel’s head didn’t stay down. In fact, he was a part of two of the biggest offensive plays near the end of the game. The game-winning touchdown we already mentioned. before that, he was the target after Fromm dodged a sack deep in the backfield. Michel picked up 17 yards on that play for a first down. The Dawgs went on to score the game-tying touchdown a few plays later.
After a fumble where the entire Georgia fan base sobbed for Michel because of this potentially being his last game. Fans rejoiced as he rebounded from that error in the most unbelievable of ways.
Sony Michel was already an all-time great Georgia Bulldog before the Rose Bowl. He left Pasadena as a Bulldog legend. It’s a game that fans will talk about for decades.
It’ll be one of the last great memories for many in the Bulldog nation. For others, it’s the game that they’ll tell their kids and grand-kids about. The night Sony Michel racked up 222 yards and scored four touchdowns in a shootout with Oklahoma.