Stetson Bennett passed for 274 yards and four touchdowns and No. 1 Georgia rolled past No. 14 LSU 50-30 in the SEC championship game on Saturday in Atlanta.
Bennett finished 23 of 29 passing, with all of his scoring tosses coming in the first half, as the defending national champion Bulldogs (13-0) took command.
Kenny McIntosh ran for two second-half touchdowns as they kept the Tigers (9-4) at bay and almost certainly wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff pairings that will be announced Sunday.
“I’m so proud of this group. They kept talking about doing something that last year’s team didn’t do (winning an SEC Championship),” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said. “We had very physical practices this week. I’m proud of the way they prepared.”
Jayden Daniels passed for 208 yards with one touchdown and one interception, but he did not play in the second half because of a leg injury.
Garrett Nussmeier replaced Daniels and threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Malik Nabers on LSU’s first possession of the third quarter to trim Georgia’s lead to 35-17. Nussmeier finished 15 of 27 for 294 yards and two touchdowns.
McIntosh ran 2 yards for a touchdown and Noah Cain answered with a 1-yard touchdown run, leaving Georgia with a 42-23 lead at the end of the third quarter.
McIntosh ran 8 yards to make the score 50-23 before Nussmeier threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Jaray Jenkins.
On LSU’s second possession, Nazir Stackhouse blocked Damian Ramos’ 32-yard field goal and the ball rolled inside the 5-yard line. Georgia’s Christopher Smith approached and when he saw that the Tigers had given up on the play, he gathered possession and ran 96 yards for a touchdown.
“Obviously we did a poor job coaching. It’s our responsibility to have our guys alert in that situation,” LSU head coach Brian Kelly said. “They were not alert, and that falls on coaching.”
On the ensuing possession, Daniels threw a 53-yard touchdown pass to Kayshon Boutte, but Bennett responded with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Brock Bowers for a 14-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.
“”He’s really good, really athletic,” Smart said of Bennett. “He makes everyone around him better. Nobody watched more tape than he does.”
On the first play of the second quarter, Daniels’ pass was deflected twice before being intercepted by Smael Mondon Jr. On the next play Bennett connected with Ladd McConkey for a 22-yard touchdown and a 21-7 lead.
Bennett threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Darnell Washington and a 3-yarder to Dillon Bell before Ramos’ 42-yard field goal left the Bulldogs with a 35-10 halftime lead.
“It’s been a while. This one’s special. We played a really good game today,” Bennett said of the win. “We played for each other. This is a band of brothers. We just come out and execute every single weekend. We’ve got a good team. We’ve got the best team in the SEC.”
–Field Level Media
