Georgia now shifts focus to Alabama

Stetson Bennett helped No. 1 Georgia finish a perfect regular season, and then shifted his attention to Alabama.

Bennett passed for 255 yards and four touchdowns, including two to tight end Brock Bowers, and No. 1 Georgia overwhelmed Georgia Tech 45-0 on Saturday.

“It’s a big accomplishment,” Bennett said. “Now the real fun starts.”

Georgia (12-0) gained momentum for next week’s much-anticipated Southeastern Conference championship game against No. 3 Alabama in Atlanta.

In the rivalry known as “Clean Old-Fashioned Hate,” the Bulldogs played a clean game with no turnovers or penalties.

It is the first undefeated regular season for the Bulldogs since 1982, when they capped a streak of three consecutive SEC championships with tailback Herschel Walker.

Georgia now can focus on its drive for SEC and national championships.

“What we have done in the regular season is all good, but if we don’t finish it the right way none of this matters,” said linebacker Nakobe Dean, who led the defense with six tackles and two quarterback hurries.

Georgia Tech (3-9) finished with three wins for the third consecutive season under coach Geoff Collins, who acknowledged this week he will need to show improvement next year.

The Yellow Jackets closed the season with six consecutive losses following a 3-3 start.

The losing streak included losses to No. 6 Notre Dame and Georgia by a combined margin of 100-0 the last two weeks, putting more heat on Collins.

“The last two games were a step back,” Collins said. “Let’s get that out of the way. Against two of the top six teams in college football. But every other game, the way we’ve matured and closed the gap, that’s real.”

Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson had no complaints about sharing the screen on his postgame video call.

“Say hello to our new friend,” he said, holding up the ACC’s Atlantic Division trophy after the No. 18 Demon Deacons beat Boston College 41-10 to advance to the conference title game. We knew what was at stake. It was as big of a game as we’ve coached and played in,” Clawson said. “We knew what we had to do.”

Sam Hartman threw for three touchdowns and ran for another on Saturday as the Demon Deacons earned the right to play Pittsburgh next weekend for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship.

An undefeated season slipped away from No. 22 UTSA on a rain-soaked Saturday in the Dallas area.

The Roadrunners didn’t seem terribly surprised.

Whether it was losing three fumbles early with a slick ball or playing a hot opponent a week after staying perfect on a last-second touchdown, UTSA coach Jeff Traylor sensed the odds getting worse.

North Texas backs DeAndre Torrey and Ikaika Ragsdale combined for five touchdowns while UTSA quarterback Frank Harris had two turnovers and didn’t play after halftime in the Mean Green’s 45-23 rout of the Roadrunners.

“I think human nature is we probably weren’t as juiced up as we were last week,” Traylor said, referring to a 34-31 victory over UAB. “But it wasn’t like a bad effort. They were at a 10 and we probably played at an eight. And you turn it over three times in the weather, you’re going to get embarrassed, which we did today.”

UTSA (11-1, 7-1 Conference USA), which never started with more than five consecutive wins in the program’s first nine FBS seasons, is still hosting the conference championship game Friday night against either Western Kentucky or Marshall. No. 1 Georgia and fourthranked Cincinnati are the remaining undefeated FBS teams.

Brandon Peters threw for 242 yards and a touchdown and Illinois rolled over Big Ten rival Northwestern 47-14 on Saturday.

With the resounding win to end the regular season, Illinois hopes to secure its second bowl bid in five years.

Peters also threw an interception. Chase Brown rushed 14 times for 112 yards and a touchdown, Josh McCray carried 12 times for 42 yards and a score. Isaiah Williams and Daniel Barker also scored rushing touchdowns for the Illini. Williams also caught seven passes for 113 yards and a touchdown.

Payton Thorne threw two touchdown passes and ran for another to lead No. 12 Michigan State to a 30-27 victory over Penn State on Saturday.

Kennett Walker III rushed for 138 yards and a touchdown on 30 carries as the Spartans (10-2, 7-2 Big Ten) bounced back from last week’s 56-7 loss to Ohio State.

Michigan State finished undefeated at home for the first time since 2015.