TCU 7, Georgia 65: Devastation

Two things can be true. The TCU Horned Frogs deserved to play in the National Championship Game. The TCU Horned Frogs were outclassed and thoroughly dominated in the National Championship Game.

TCU’s dream season turned into a nightmare on Monday night, with the Frogs falling into a bottomless pit for four quarters until the red confetti was finally falling on SoFi Stadium, as the Georgia Bulldogs performed like the dominant dynastic collection of elite talent that it is. Georgia has now won back-to-back national championships, the first repeat champion since 2011-2012 Alabama.

Georgia was excellent and TCU was...the opposite. The Horned Frogs were out of sorts from the first possession, but that is not unheard of for TCU this season. The difference is TCU had not had the pleasure of Georgia being on the other sideline yet this season. There is a reason why the national media will have you believe that the only thing that matters in college football is recruiting stars and NIL dollars, and it was on full display Monday night. But it wasn’t just the talent on the field, it was the talent on the sidelines as well. Georgia was prepared like a team who knew what it needed to do to win a championship, and had a gameplan to make it happen, shutting down everything TCU threw at them.

The Bulldogs quickly forced a punt from TCU as nerves clearly ran high for the Horned Frogs - the opening play of the game being a TCU false start was a harbinger of things to come. The Bulldogs then easily marched down the short field and Stetson Bennett strolled into the endzone for a TD to open the scoring. The Bulldogs would be taking many strolls to the endzone. TCU did have one scoring drive on the day: Derius Davis made some amends for his fumble on the previous drive that gifted UGA 3 points (like giving $8 to a billionaire), with a 60-yard reception that set up a Max Duggan 2-yard TD keeper.

The score was 10-7. Birds were singing, life was simple, milk was 25 cents a gallon...approximately six eternities later, the Bulldogs had amassed an additional eight (8) TDs in one of the most lopsided college football games of all time.

The TCU box score is horrific. Max Duggan, the Heisman Trophy runner-up was 14-22 for 152 yards and 2 interceptions. The Frogs only had two players with multiple receptions, and only one with more than 15 receiving yards. As a team, TCU rushed for 36 yards. For the game. That’s 36 yards total in 4 quarters of football, in the biggest game in program history, albeit while missing starting RB Kendre Miller. Defensively it’s even more gruesome: 589 total yards allowed, 5.8 yards per rush, 16.8 yards per completion, zero sacks, 32 first downs allowed (including 10-14 on 3rd-4th downs). Even the one punt TCU forced ended up being a net of 58 yards as TCU had a holding penalty despite TCU not even fielding the punt as it rolled inside the 20.

TCU and its fans should absolutely be proud of what this team has accomplished in Sonny Dykes’ first season as Head Coach, but this was an all-out, 100%, top-to-bottom, inside-and-out demolition that shows there are still many steps to take to climb that final rung to the #1 spot. The Horned Frogs will have a long offseason to reflect and work to reload a roster that is sure to lose many of its top contributors, to get ready for another run at the College Football Playoff in 2023, beginning with Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes on September 2.