Georgia football: It was an epic battle of explosive plays for Peach Bowl victory

Georgia football and Ohio State duked it out in a dogfight in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, and it was an explosive game. This semifinal matchup was one of the best since the College Football Playoff started. Two elite teams were fighting until the last seconds for a spot in the national championship.

The Dawgs luckily received a New Year miracle to win, but that doesn’t mean the Buckeyes didn’t fight hard in this game. They gave Georgia everything they had and a little more, but isn’t that what you want in these playoff games?!

Both teams went back and forth throughout the game, and this is hands down one of the best playoff matchups ever. The Buckeyes and Dawgs were capitalizing off explosive plays, especially in the first half. However, the Dawgs won that battle, despite what most might think.

Georgia football won the explosive play battle to win the Peach Bowl.

Ohio State and Georgia are two teams that give up a lot of explosive plays but also make a lot themselves, so this game was about who could make more happen. In the end, it was Georgia that helped get the one-point lead that was ultimately enough to seal the deal.

When we say explosive plays, Todd Monken’s definition is the one we use — 12-plus yard runs and 16-plus yard catches. However, the playoff stats define “big plays” as 10-plus yard runs and 15-plus yard catches.

If we use Monkens’ explosive play definition there were 28 explosive plays with 15 total for Georgia and 13 for Ohio State. The playoff definition saw the Dawgs with 17 explosive plays and 13 for the Buckeyes, giving a grand total of 30 big moments.

In the first half alone, there were 16 explosive plays as Georgia had 10 and Ohio State had six. It was a game of big moments, and Georgia got the last one late in the fourth quarter to set up their final touchdown. Neither defense could limit those big plays, so whoever could get more was the team that found a way to win.

Since Monken is the Dawgs’ offensive coordinator we will use his definition of explosive plays. Of Georgia’s 15 explosive moments, 10 of them were through the air, and five were rush plays. For those who don’t like his definition, Georgia had eight pass plays of 20-plus yards to seven different receivers.

Starting quarterback Stetson Bennett shared the wealth and those receivers stepped up in a big way for him. To have eight 20-plus yard plays is incredible for the Dawgs’ offense, and it shows they have some firepower too. That 76  yard touchdown pass to Arian Smith really open up a can of momentum for the Dawgs, and gave them enough to not give up and let the Buckeyes win.

Georgia added a 52 yard run from Kenny McIntosh in the second quarter and had a 21-yarder from Daijun Edwards as well. The Dawgs’ five explosive plays all came in the first half, as they had to rely on the passing game to come back and win.

As for Ohio State, most of their explosive plays were passes as nine of the 13 were through the air, and seven of the nine went for over 20 yards. Giving CJ Stroud time gave the Dawgs problems, but Georgia found a way to stop him. The Dawgs recorded four sacks and those were enough to keep Stroud from making another big play.

Georgia showed the world that the Dawgs’ offense can be explosive, and this game shows that. To go toe-to-toe with an explosive offense like Ohio State is a testament to what Monken is doing for this program. The Dawgs have a good offense and despite an atoricious third quarter, they rallied and took down Ohio State.