No. 3 Georgia’s offense leads way to victory over No. 11 Oregon

“I’ve got a lot of respect for Dan Lanning,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “A lot of the players we had out there on the field tonight, Dan Lanning recruited. ... He’ll bounce back from this. He knows that we’ve got better players. He’ll never say it, but he knows it.”

The game was Georgia’s first chance to defend its 2021 national championship, of which Lanning was a part. The Bulldogs are having to do it with a rebuilt defense missing eight starters, all of whom were selected in this year’s NFL draft. The new group gave up only 313 yards to the Ducks and had two huge interceptions.

Oregon converted way too many third-down attempts for Smart’s liking (7-of-15), and he pointed out that both teams had 14 first downs at halftime. But the incredible proficiency with which the Bulldogs’ offense performed left such details moot.

Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@

Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@

Bolstered by Bennett being QB1 for an entire offseason for the first time in his career, Georgia’s 2022 offense looked drastically different than the one last on display against Alabama in the national championship game eight months ago. This one featured lots of motion, misdirection play-action passes of every variety. The new wrinkles kept the Ducks’ defense on its heels throughout.

When Bennett hit A.D. Mitchell with an 18-yard TD pass with 5:20 remaining in the third quarter, Georgia was a perfect 6-for-6 on touchdown-scoring possessions. At that point, the Bulldogs were 7-for-7 on third-down conversions, and Bennett was 25-of-31 passing for 368 yards and two touchdowns by the time he left the game with 4:26 remaining. Bennett also scored on a 1-yard run.

“Probably the best one I’ve played,” said Bennett, who improves to 15-3 as Georgia’s starting quarterback and notched his 16th win as the quarterback of record. “I’d say it’s probably from the offseason, putting in the work with these guys and Year 3 in the offseason. And, again, having time (to throw) and having great playmakers.”

Fittingly, backup quarterback Carson Beck came in and immediately led Georgia on another touchdown drive. His short pass to running back Kendall Milton went for an 18-yard touchdown and kept the Bulldogs a perfect 8-for-8 on third-down conversions.

When Georgia finally had to punt for the first time with 10:19 remaining in the game, Oregon’s fans gave their team a mocking standing ovation.

“Let’s not discredit Georgia; they have a lot of talent -- a LOT of talent,” said Lanning, who was Smart’s defensive coordinator the past three seasons. “They’ve been recruiting there and building for a long time. I won’t take anything away from them, but we have guys that we can play winning football with.”

Also having standout games for Georgia were running back Kenny McIntosh, who had 119 yards receiving and a rushing touchdown. Wideout Ladd McConkey added 73 yards receiving and had both a touchdown catch (4 yards) and a TD run (9 yards) while setting up another 1-yard score.

Georgia’s defense got interceptions from fifth-year senior safety Christopher Smith and first-year safety Malaki Starks. You’ll see Starks’ leaping interception at the Oregon 8 on all the postgame highlight shows. The Ducks had 213 total yards by the time Georgia’s starters were chased from the game.

It was all very reminiscent of the last time Georgia had a national championship title to defend. The Bulldogs beat Tennessee 44-0 to open that 1981 season.

That was a very good year, too.