Georgia Bulldogs down Oklahoma in Rose Bowl

IN 103 Rose Bowls before Monday (Tuesday in Manila), only two teams had rallied to win after being down double digits at halftime. Georgia, with a freshman quarterback trading passes with a Heisman Trophy-winning fifth-year senior, didn’t seem built to become the third.

So much for history and Georgia linebacker Lorenzo Carter reputations. leaped high to deflect a 27- yard

In the first overtime game in Rose field-goal attempt by Austin Seibert. Bowl history, No. 3 Georgia advanced A mistake by the Sooners (12-2) just to Monday’s national championship before halftime proved costly to the Big game against No. 4 Alabama in Atlanta 12 Conference champions. by rallying for a 54-48 victory over No. The Sooners led 31-14, scoring on a 2 Oklahoma in front of 92,844. trick play in which quarterback Baker

On the final play — a run off, if you Mayfield caught a two-yard touchwill — back Sony Michel took a direct down pass from receiver CeeDee Lamb snap, headed to his left, broke a tackle with six seconds on the clock. near the line of scrimmage and Oklahoma’s plan was to drive a sprinted 27 yards for a touchdown squib kick to the center of the field, that gave Georgia the double-overthwarting any kind of run back and time win and pushed the Bulldogs letting the clock run out. However, they into their first national title game. didn’t execute the play and Georgia got

“Our kids are so resilient. ... the ball at the Oklahoma 47. They kept fighting. They believed,” Jake Fromm needed only five seccoach Kirby Smart said after the onds to pick up nine yards on a pass, Bulldogs ( 13- 1) capped the largand Rodrigo Blankenship connected est comeback in Rose Bowl history on a career-best 55-yard field goal, a by wiping out a 17- point deficit. Rose Bowl game record and the long

Michel’s run, which culminated est of this bowl season. his 181- yard, three- touchdown “That probably gave them a little rushing performance, came after bit of juice,” Oklahoma coach Lin- coln Riley said. “They were able to steal three points on us.”

That left Georgia down by two touchdowns starting the second half, but the Bulldogs got one of them back on their first play, when Nick Chubb bolted 50 yards for a touchdown.

Chubb and Michel combined for 326 yards rushing and five touchdowns. Michel got 181 yards in 11 carries; Chubb 145 yards and two touchdowns in 14 carries.

Fromm started the season as a backup, taking over when Jacob Eason suffered a knee injury in the opener. Now he’s one step away from becoming only the second true freshman to guide a national champion.

Oklahoma got 201 yards and two touchdowns rushing from Rodney Anderson, and 287 yards and two touchdowns passing from Mayfield. But the Sooners, who confounded Georgia for 360 yards in the first half, were held to 29 yards in the third quarter as the Bulldogs forged a 31-31 tie.

One obvious adjustment Georgia made was to play more often with four down linemen and three linebackers instead of its usual 3-4 alignment. Smart said simply making that change wasn’t the difference.

Mayfield made one big mistake: he overthrew his intended receiver into the center of the field, resulting in an interception by safety Dominick Sanders, who returned the ball 39 yards to the Sooners four-yard line on the first play of the fourth quarter.

From there, Fromm connected with Javon Wims and Georgia led 38-31.

Oklahoma kept sputtering until Mayfield clicked back into high gear on an 88-yard drive during which he hit Lamb for a 36-yard gain, ran for 22 yards and threaded in an 11yard touchdown pass to Dimitri Flowers near the back of the end zone in a span of four plays.

The pass and point-after kick tied the score 38-38 and the Sooners took the lead about two minutes later when linebacker Caleb Kelly upended Michel, dislodging the ball that bounced into the hands of strong safety Steven Parker, who took it 46 yards for a touchdown.

Oklahoma held a 45-38 advantage until less than a minute remained in regulation. Chubb scored on a run from two yards, completing a seven-play, 59-yard march that was kept alive when Fromm connected with Terry Godwin for a 16yard gain on third and 10.

Fromm completed 20 of 29 passes for 210 yards and two touchdowns, and Mayfield was 23 of 35 for 287 yards and two touchdowns with an interception.

In the end, Mayfield’s chance of becoming the fifth Heisman Trophy winner to win a national championship in the last 10 years was thwarted.