ESPN’s “College GameDay” showed a graphic Saturday morning highlighting the top Heisman Trophy candidate for each of the three national-title favorites. Alabama quarterback Bryce Young (+430) and Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud (+200) were the front-runners. Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett (+6000) was the long shot (as he often is).
Social media poked fun at his inclusion. Young, last year’s Heisman winner, and Stroud, built in a lab for this sport, sit atop NFL draft boards. Bennett, a walk-on with pedestrian physical traits, isn’t thought in the same vein.
Maybe that long-shot bet isn’t such a bad one.
No. 3 Georgia trounced No. 11 Oregon 49-3 on Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. For once, the Bulldogs’ defense wasn’t the story. Bennett and his absurd weaponry stole the show.
Last we saw Bennett, he overcame a wonky start with a perfect finish in the national championship game. Bulldogs fans spent their celebratory offseason watching his touchdown toss to Adonai Mitchell on repeat. He went from the subject of season-long debate, and at times even ridicule, to an unforgettable guest on “Good Morning America” the day after the title game.
In his return to the field Saturday, Bennett was brilliant. He was 25-for-31 passing for a career-best 368 yards and two touchdowns. He added a rushing touchdown. Bennett accrued only eight yards on two rushing attempts, but that doesn’t convey how valuable his legs were Saturday.
In baseball − another sport Bennett loves − if a starter pitches the entirety of a contest without allowing a base runner, it’s a perfect game. There isn’t such a term for football perfection, but maybe there should be.
When Bennett was leading the offense, Georgia never punted. They were perfect on third downs (8-for-8). The Bulldogs were 6-for-6 on touchdown drives against the Ducks, coached by former Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning. His defenses had been torched in recent years only by offenses guided by Tua Tagovailoa, Joe Burrow and Kyle Trask.
This was Bennett’s magnum opus. Even he, a man of boring humbleness, admitted as much.
“Yeah, probably the best one I’ve played,” he said. Asked why, Bennett added: “I’d say probably the offseason, all the work I put in with these guys. Year 3 in this offense. Having time and having the playmakers outside. It’s a combination of a lot of things.”
Bennett looked like Johnny Manziel (on the field) at times Saturday. He looked like Baker Mayfield (the Oklahoma version) during others. He was brilliant, delivering pinpoint throws and slipping around Oregon defenders to make plays. One stood out above the rest.
A sixth-year senior, Bennett danced around danger, and with four defenders surrounding him, fired a 4-yard touchdown pass (from the 17-yard line) to Ladd McConkey. It was the Bulldogs’ fourth touchdown in four possessions.
“It wasn’t smart,” Bennett said. “I need to not do that. … But I knew that we had motioned Ladd over there. … I started scrambling, and I was trying to find him because I knew he was over there somewhere, and then I found him and threw it. But it probably wasn’t smart. I needed to either ground it at him or run it or throw it to Brock (Bowers) or something front side.”
He ended his acknowledgement with the bottom line: “It did work out.”
Bennett played with the confidence of a champion. He didn’t look like a “game manager” for a defensive-based team. He took command, aggressively pushed the ball and made plays out of the pocket - all key characteristics in most modern premier signal-callers.
The Bulldogs clearly felt they could scorch the Ducks through the air. They mercilessly gashed Oregon, showing a true “my guys are better than your guys” mentality. (Coach Kirby Smart said after the game, “(Lanning) knows we have better players.”) It’s that level of dominance, a killer instinct, that Georgia once lacked. A team quarterbacked by Bennett wasn’t thought capable of becoming that. Some even doubted it despite the championship. That line of thinking is outdated.
This is Bennett’s team. For years, he was a second thought. Even one year ago, he was behind JT Daniels. This season, Georgia is grooming the youngsters behind him to take over next year. But no one is doubting Bennett’s standing with the team in 2022.
“If we had rotated 1′s and 2′s, and you guys had debated who the starter was, would he have played as well today? I don’t know,” Smart said. “I don’t think Stetson gets affected by anything I do, you do or anybody does. Stetson lives in his own world, and he does a really good job of blocking out all the noise.”
Bennett spread the ball beautifully. Running back Kenny McIntosh was the leading receiver with 117 yards on nine catches (catching all his targets). McConkey’s hype seems justified: He had 73 yards on five catches with a touchdown (and another rushing). Mitchell had 65 yards on four catches, including snagged a perfect end-zone fade from Bennett.
Kearis Jackson had 45 yards on three catches. Tight end Darnell Washington caught two passes and produced a memorable highlight as he trucked through defenders along the sideline. Bowers had a couple of catches for 38 yards.
“That’s a product of Stetson being able to get to his first, second, third read, and then also scrambling and making plays with his feet,” Smart said. “I can only imagine how you feel calling a game against a guy that when you win, when there’s somebody back there, they don’t tackle him. Then on top of the fact he knows where the ball should go. You have an accurate passer and good protection, it’s hard to defend.”
Oregon was the highest-ranked opponent on Georgia’s schedule. Bennett will get plenty more chances to top this career-best Saturday. If his play remains anything similar, the Bulldogs holding their second consecutive championship trophy January in Los Angeles seems increasingly conceivable.
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