INGLEWOOD, Calif. — TCU belonged in the national title game, and not on the same field as Georgia. Not on Monday night.
(If you are a TCU fan and you made it past the first sentence about anything related to the football team’s performance in the national title game, much respect).
No. 1 Georgia’s 65-7 win over No. 3 TCU in the national title game was the worst possible outcome for the Horned Frogs, for the Big 12, and for college football.
College football does not need fewer teams that can actually win a title.
In the days leading up to the national title game, the quiet hope among the TCU fans was to at least “Just keep it close.”
It should have been, “Keep ‘em under 70.”
TCU’s defense never could stop Georgia’s parade of points. TCU’s offense was unable to score any of its own.
The team that “didn’t belong” in the college football national title game ran into the best team in the nation, and the outcome so many predicted, and feared, finally happened for the TCU Horned Frogs.
This is college football, and do not let anyone convince you that TCU didn’t belong at SoFi Stadium on Monday night in Los Angeles in the national title game.
“It’s not like anything was handed to us. At the end of the day, we put ourselves in a position to be here,” TCU running back Emari Demercado said after the game. “No matter what the result was of this game, we won ourselves into this moment. Nobody gave it to us.
“In this locker room, we know we deserved to be here. We know that we should have played better, too.”
The one-loss Horned Frogs beat undefeated No. 2 Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl to advance to L.A. The same Michigan that popped No. 4 Ohio State by 22 points in the final regular-season game.
Ohio State led Georgia 38-24 late in the third quarter in the semifinal game, after which the Bulldogs rediscovered what makes them unbeatable.
They’re better than every other team in the nation.
Since the start of the 2020 season, Georgia has lost three games.
Georgia was going to spank any team it played on Monday night, including the Dallas Cowboys. OK, need to find a better comp ... go with the Kansas City Chiefs.
“That’s the best team we’ve played. They were so together,” TCU offensive lineman Steven Avila said after the game. “I’d have to look at the film, but they probably messed up one time. That’s what it felt like. They were firing on all cylinders.
“And we probably had a (missed assignment) on probably every play. As a whole unit, we weren’t doing our job. Usually we click on offense and weren’t doing that.”
The reason is simple. Georgia.
“That’s the best I’ve played against,” TCU tight end Jared Wiley said. “They were so relaxed. Not pressing. Very comfortable in that big of a moment.”
Tens of thousands of TCU fans spent thousands and thousands of dollars to flock to SoFi Stadium from all over the country to see their beloved Horned Frogs play for a national title in the sport this nation worships, and it was a sad, painful, sight.
Most of those same TCU fans cleared out of SoFi Stadium by the start of the fourth quarter, eager to hit the bar.
TCU’s 2022 season was all Hollywood, as was the finale ... if you’re into Saw, Scream, or It.
To defeat Georgia, TCU needed to play its best game of the season and the Horned Frogs opted to play their worst.
Also, TCU played Georgia.
TCU could have played its best game of the season against Georgia and it would not have mattered.
In the first half, when the game was decided, TCU’s defense never stopped Georgia. It didn’t stop them much in the second half, either.
In the first half, when the game was decided, TCU’s offense turned the ball over three times, Davey O’ Brien winner Max Duggan threw two interceptions in his worst performance of the season.
In the first half, when the game was decided, Georgia scored five touchdowns to TCU’s five first downs.
Other than Duggan’s first-quarter touchdown run to make the score 10-7 in middle of the first quarter, there was nothing of note for TCU fans to celebrate.
At the half, Georgia led TCU 38-7.
The deficit had a lot of TCU fans praying that maybe this Horned Frogs team had an Alamo Bowl special in them. In the 2015 Alamo Bowl, TCU trailed 31-0 at the half before rallying to win.
That was against Oregon.
Georgia is a bit better than Oregon.
That much was apparent when early in the second quarter on a Georgia drive there were multiple occasions when TCU defenders had Bulldog ball carriers lined up for the tackle, and they couldn’t do it.
On a third-and-10 early in the second quarter, TCU linebacker Dee Winters had Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett in prime position for a sack. Bennett outran a fast TCU defender for the first down.
If you are Fort Worth person, or even remotely associated with TCU, there was nothing fun or funny about what happened on Monday night.
This was TCU’s chance on the biggest stage in the sport, and it made the worst kind of history.
The last time a college title game was this boring, Oklahoma trailed USC 55-10 in the fourth quarter in 2005.
If you are brave enough to look at the stat sheet, the numbers are all there, and many of them are historic for a college football title game. They are so one-sided, and sad, it borders on fiction.
The ending was unwatchable, but it does not change what the team accomplished for TCU in 2022.
TCU started the season with nary a vote for the Top 25, and finished in the national title game.
The Horned Frogs crushed Oklahoma, won at Texas, went undefeated through the Big 12 schedule, defeated Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl for a playoff win.
TCU belonged in the national title game.
It just didn’t belong on the same field as Georgia.
