Georgia outlasts Oklahoma in OT thriller
Bulldogs rally from down 17, head for national title game
PASADENA » Sony Michel burst through the line for a 27-yard touchdown run to give No. 3 Georgia a 54-48 victory Monday night against No. 2 Oklahoma, winning the first overtime Rose Bowl and sending the Bulldogs to the College Football Playoff championship game.
Michel, who had a fumble in the fourth quarter returned for a go-ahead Oklahoma touchdown, ran for 181 yards and three scores for the Bulldogs (13-1), but none bigger than the last one in the second overtime.
In the final game of one of the great college careers, Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield threw for 287 yards and two touchdowns, and caught a touchdown pass that gave the Sooners a 17-point lead with 6 seconds left in the first half.
But the Heisman Trophy winner could not get the Sooners into the end zone in the first overtime when a touchdown would have ended the game.
“We kept believing. We know we’re a fourth-quarter team,” said Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm. “We knew each and every blow we took in the first half
“We kept believing. We know we’re a fourth-quarter team. We knew each and every blow we took in the first half would pay off for us in the second half.”
– Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm on the Bulldogs’ win over Oklahoma.
would pay off for us in the second half.”
The Bulldogs will play either Alabama or Clemson on Jan. 8 for the national championship in Atlanta, about 90 miles from their campus — with a chance to win their first national title since 1980.
The first overtime Rose Bowl was also the highest scoring, surpassing last year’s 52-49 USC victory against Penn State. There was a lot more on the line in this one, which will go down as one of the greatest Granddaddies of Them All.
After an offside penalty on Georgia gave Oklahoma a first down on third-andfive in the second OT possession, the Sooners stalled again and Austin Seibert came out for a 27-yard field goal. Leaping through the line, Lorenzo Carter got his outstretched hand on the kick and the ball fluttered down short of the uprights.
Any score would have ended it for the Bulldogs, and on the second play Michel slipped one tackle and
was home free. The Bulldogs sprinted off the sideline and toward the corner of the end zone to mob Michel. Confetti rained down. Meanwhile, Mayfield stood motionless on the sideline for several seconds, bent over with his hands on his knees and head down.
Michel and his running mate Nick Chubb were awesome for Georgia. Chubb ran for 145 yards and two touchdowns, including a 2-yarder on a direct snap with 55 seconds left in regulation to tie it.
Both teams settled for field goals in the first overtime, first Georgia’s Rodrigo Blankenship from 38 to make it 48-45.
Then it was Mayfield’s turn to respond. A touchdown would have sent the Sooners to Atlanta, but on a third-and-2 from the 17 Georgia All-America linebacker Roquan Smith nailed Jordan Smallwood a yard short of the first down.
Seibert kicked a 33-yarder and the Bulldogs and Sooners played on, but not for much longer.
The first meeting between the storied programs was an instant classic.