ATLANTA — No. 1 Georgia made its case to stay atop the College Football Playoff rankings when the Bulldogs crushed No. 14 LSU 50-30 in the 2022 SEC Championship Game. The Dawgs improved to to 13-0 for the first time in program history before the final CFP rankings are released Sunday. The defending national champions never trailed as Georgia captured the program’s fourth SEC championship and first since 2017.
Even last season’s Georgia team, with its historically dominant defense, fell short of the SEC crown, and this is the first time the Dawgs have emerged from the SEC title game with an undefeated record . The 2002 and 2017 teams each suffered one regular season loss, while the 2005 team lost twice in the regular season before winning the league crown.
A steady hand from sixth-year senior quarterback Stetson Bennett IV and some horrible breaks for LSU helped the Bulldogs open a 35-10 halftime lead. In particular, a Christopher Smith 95-yard touchdown return with a blocked field goal and an interception that deflected off an LSU player’s helmet helped spark Georgia in the first half.
In the second half, UGA held off a charge from a resilient Tigers team. LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels left the game at halftime after appearing to aggravate an ankle injury in the first half. Under backup quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, the Tigers trailed 35-17 and threatened to pull even closer when the Bulldogs made a critical stop on fourth-and-1 to keep LSU out of the end zone midway through the third. fourth
Georgia shut the door from there with scoring drives of 95 and 75 yards for its 12th double-digit win in 13 games this season entering the CFP.
CBS Sports will update this story with takeaways.