Atlanta---Georgia struck quick and that was all it took as the Bulldogs overpowered LSU 50-30 to stay unbeaten and win the SEC Championship for the first time since 2017.
With the win, Georgia improves to 13-0 for the first time in school history while capturing its 14th SEC title. The 14 titles are the second most in league history behind Alabama’s 29.
The Bulldogs changed the game by scoring 21 points in less than four minutes from the end of the first quarter to early in the second to turn a tight contest into a rout.
The scoring started on special teams as Nazir Stackhouse blocked a 32-yard field goal attempt by Damian Ramos. With the ball rolling on the five-yard line, Christopher Smith came up with the heads-up play of the day, picking up the football when everyone else thought it was dead. Smith then returned it 95 yards for the Georgia touchdown.
After a quick LSU touchdown strike to tie the game at seven, Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett threw two of his four first half touchdown passes on the Bulldogs’ next two possessions, a three-yard strike to Brock Bowers and a 21-yard completion to Ladd McConkey.
Bennett also lit up the LSU secondary with two more touchdowns at the end of the first half, hitting tight end Darnell Washington for 21 yards and Dillon Bell for 3 yards to give the Bulldogs a commanding 35-7 lead.
Bennett was named the SEC Championship MVP as he finished the game 23-29 for 274 yards and four touchdowns. 214 of those yards came in the first half.
Other Georgia MVPs include QB David Greene (2002), QB D.J. Shockley (2005), LB Roquan Smith (2017).
The two teams combined for more than 1,000 yards of offense with LSU actually outgaining Georgia 549-529. But the Bulldogs were far superior in the ground game, out-rushing the Tigers 255-47. Kendall Milton led Georgia with 113 yards, Daijun Edwards added 77, and Kenny McIntosh had 55 to go along with two second half touchdowns.
Georgia will be the number one team in the final College Football Playoff ranking coming out Sunday afternoon. The Bulldogs next game, a CFP semi-final, will more than likely be back in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium on New Year’s Eve.
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