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The national college football championship is coming up. Georgia and TCU meet in a title match that is different from the semi-finals in many ways. Both teams had weeks to plan the semi-finals and then bring out the wrinkles they were working on. The title game is a much more normal game scenario, but the semi-final performances raise new questions for any team, especially Georgia, who admittedly didn’t play anywhere near their Peach Bowl best. Each team has questions they must answer if they want to take home college football’s most prized trophy. Here are three for each.
TCU
1. If Georgia cuts back on spins and bloopers… then what?
Calling TCU luck at the Fiesta Bowl would be disrespectful, but the luck they’ve been working towards cannot be ignored. He delivered an excellent upset scenario against Michigan that was largely fueled by three losses. Two of them were killer sixes, one of which helped the Frogs build a big reserve by the break. The second was an error on the Wolverines’ goal line after a game that probably should have ended in a touchdown was overruled by a review. This is one of two stoppages on the goal line by the Frogs. The second came when Michigan ran a version of the Philly Special with disastrous results that the Frogs saw from a mile away.
Michigan scored 39 points in the second half, albeit off their normal game plan, and TCU were able to respond with their own haymaking to keep the Wolverines at bay. Even the way the Horned Frogs got two places on the goal line was beneficial. First, the ball bounced into the end zone to regain touchback, and second, rather than hindering the Wolverines on the 2-yard line (where the ball was caught), they got a tackle for the loss and took the ball on the 10 rather than backing up. This amount of space offers the possibility of a different type of situational attack.
2. Can the TCU perform better in the middle of the field?
Speaking of luck, TCU quarterback Max Duggan hit the tail end of two tilted passes that ended up being intercepted. It certainly wasn’t Duggan’s fault, and had he linked up, the Frogs could have built an even bigger lead.
You have to be on time and shoot well in this part of the court, especially against a fast defense like Georgia. Ohio State’s CJ Stroud went 13 out of 16 out of the fighting line between the numbers. Can Duggan come close to such a performance?
3. What is the TCU game for Jalen Carter (and the rest of Georgia’s defensive front)?
Carter didn’t have much of an impact on the stats, and TCU had just neutralized Michigan’s insiders Mazie Smith and Kris Jenkins. But can they do it again against Carter? Part of Ohio State’s plan to appease Carter had Stroud in multiple bootlegs and changing the starting point. Many times he rolled out of his pocket instead of dropping straight down the middle where he would have been a sitting duck. The strategy mainly worked to keep Stroud clean and also gave him time to hit deep receivers, reducing how much Georgia could just put her ears back and pounce. If TCU goes into a mode where it has to reject a back-off for whatever reason, how will it keep Duggan clean?
Georgia
1. How will Stetson Bennett and Georgia use the scoring opportunity?
When Michigan was successful against TCU, it did so with overhead shots, such as a flea flicker touchdown on Ronnie Bell.
The Wolverines landed another deep shot earlier in the game to Roman Wilson. Each game was a textbook situation where you could take risks on the field. Wilson’s catch came after a “sudden change” (a takeaway from Michigan) and one of Bell’s deep catches came immediately after the Wolverines crossed midfield. Translation: Scenarios where TCU should have expected these plays. Where will the Dawgs take part in TCU’s pass defense, which was 114th in the nation in opposing passes over 20 yards, headed for the Fiesta Bowl?
2. What is Georgia’s crime without Darnell Washington?
There is huge intrigue about what Georgia’s contingency plan will be without Darnell Washington’s strict end, or at least with Washington at less than 100%. Washington deals withcontusion and stretching of soft tissuein one leg according to Kirby Smart, and it remains to be seen if he can make it to the title game. Oscar Delp is likely to take his place.
What Washington gives the Georgia Offensive is a unique set with two tight ends where he sets up as the sixth offensive lineman and Brock Bowers is the big field receiver. Whether Delp can replace Washington in the same way – especially as a run blocker – will be a subplot of this game. But Georgia could pick one tight end and more wide receivers more often now that Adonai Mitchell has proven himself to be a healthy and capable complement to Arian Smith and Ladd McConkey. But the lighter staff take away what many see as the Dawgs’ definite physical advantage against the 3-3-5 TCU defense.
3. How will Georgia manage the ball?
Speaking of the Horned Frog defense, Michigan never understood how to effectively block TCU in a running game. Their trailing linemen struggled with the combination of the Frogs’ hard diagonal defensive line and the angles, speed and timing their second and third tier defenders swooped in to defend the run.
Georgia’s cross-country game may not be as much about counter-attacking as Michigan’s, but it’s more of a cross-country game this season (called a gap pattern). Georgia attacks the running game circuit in her own way, but one key game she uses has her own unusual blocking angles. Dawg pin/pull runs where, for example, the wide receiver blocks from the gap and the tackle pulls around are different ways to get to the edge, especially with Washington as the main blocker. They can block kickbacks and tap passes, which give the ball carrier a quick start and add to the uniqueness of the game.
Pin/pull is something many teams will try to run against TCU (Michigan did it too). But just because it looks good on the board doesn’t mean it always works well in the field.
Additional questions for both teams
Who screens better?
Georgia is one of the better on-screen teams in the country, and many of them are conventional running teams:
While TCU is unconventional.
Its shallow windshield is a staple of the aerial attack, which they used twice in the national championship game to score.
Either way, as changes to the passing match, both teams bring screens to the table that add a different element to their attack.
Which QB Run game makes the most use of the element of surprise?
Sometimes it’s by design…
… or make something out of nothing.
Both Duggan and Bennett have unique gear as runners that help keep the defense balanced and can punish a D who isn’t ready. They are judiciously used as runners in planned situations, but both are really fast and if they get lost, watch out.
