Fantastic Finishes

Backup UGA QB Gunnar Stockton led the Dawgs to an amazing comeback win in overtime, giving them the SEC Championship. Texas led 6-3 with one second left in the first half when UGA QB Carson Beck attempted a hail mary. He scrambled and rared back to throw, when a trailing defender hit Beck's exposed throwing arm.

Beck went down hard, injured on the play. Little used backup Gunnar Stockton, a redshirt sophomore from Tiger GA had to play the second half.

Man that was some ending. Stockton charged down to gain the first down. The collision bent his ankles, knees, and legs backwards, and knocked his helmet off.

Had the call been upheld on the replay, he wouldn’t have had to go out of the game for a play. I couldn’t believe Beck was physically able to return to the game. And that was the play they scored the game winning touchdown.

When Beck got knocked out of the game the Dawgs also lost their holder for field goals, but Stockton filled in for that as well (below).  After UGA punter Brent Thorson was knocked out of the game, UGA didn't have to punt. A Bulldog RB #20 was also knocked out of the game with an injury. A starting Longhorn offensive lineman was not able to play due to an ankle injury.

Am I biased? I saw Texas holding on the offensive line many times. At least 3 times in the first half Longhorn drives were thwarted by penalties. Happened a couple of more times in the second half. UGA was called for a couple of obvious pass interference calls, but I didn’t see much favoritism from the referees. Dawgs were called for an obvious penalty when the DB pushed the ballcarrier down long after he had stepped out of bounds.

Texas backup QB Arch Manning only ran two plays After scoring a touchdown last week against Texas A&M. On a 4th & one the center snapped the ball between Arch's legs directly to the running back, who ran for the first down. On the first play of the overtime. Arch ran for five yards. After playing with a hurt ankle for most of the season, starting quarterback Quinn Ewers may skip the NFL Draft if he's not projected to be a first round draft pick. Instead he may transfer to another school. Some think Ewers may transfer to UGA.

Another game where most of the experts had picked UGA to lose, including most of the ESPN College GameDay panel: Desmond Howard and Nick Saban. Interesting that Texas was the home team, but chose to wear white jerseys.

Last season the undefeated FSU QB got hurt in the ACC Championship Game and the playoff committee left the Noles out of the 4 team playoff. When Beck got hurt all the FSU fans were calling for UGA to be left out of the 12 team playoff, though the Dawgs get an automatic entry by winning the conference championship.

UGA had to beat Texas twice this season. Might have to beat them a third time. I hate that for any team.

Kirby looked like he was going to cry after the game, talking about Gunnar Stockton. Nice to see the mothers of Beck and Stockton hugging after halftime. Nice to hear Etienne after the game. Sounds like he will be returning to UGA for another season.

After the game Kirby had choice words for the horrendously unfair schedule the SEC commissioner Greg Stanky had saddled the Dawgs with, that included no home games for over a month. The camera panned from Kirby to Sanky, who was standing just o the other side of the sideline reporter holding the microphone. Meanwhile next year Texas gets to play the exact same "easy" SEC schedule they played this year, which bypassed several of the better SEC teams, including Bama, Tennessee, and Missouri.

UGA will get a first round bye in the playoff, since they’re one of the four highest ranked conference champions. With Clemson beating SMU that might just open a spot for Bama to sneak into the playoff. Bama has three wins against top 25 teams (SMU has none). Bama did lose to two teams with 6 losses, SMU won all those.

Clemson WR Wesco had a big game for the Tigers. Dabo said it was the best half they’d played all year, and I’d have to agree. Both Dabo and the SMU coach were wearing new Nike letterman style jackets. Man if I were a head coach I wouldn't want to wear something new in a championship game that I hadn't been wearing all year. In the second half the SMU coach took his jacket off.

Amazing finish in the ACC game as well. SMU tied the game with 16 seconds remaining, erasing a 17 point Clemson lead. But the Tigers got a 41 yard kickoff return (their longest of the season), and a clutch 17 yard pass reception - setting up a game winning 56 field goal by Clemson's true freshman kicker.

After the game Dabo: thank you Jesus...all glory to God. QB Klubnick also gave credit to God.

Not surprised that Oregon beat Penn State. Not sure the Nittany Lions deserve to be in the playoff. They did put up a good fight.

Woke up this morning and emailed Reid these spot on predictions...

The 4 top seeds go to the highest ranked conference champions. Not sure if that will include Boise State or Arizona State. The highest Notre Dame can be ranked is 5th. Doubtful the losers of the SEC ACC and Big 12 Championship Games will drop out, based on their previous records and rankings. Not sure of all of the other conditions, but the last spot may be up for grabs. Hopefully the committee will tweak the exact rankings to avoid repeat matchups until as late in the brackets as possible. For example UGA shouldn't have to play Texas Tennessee or Bama again until the championship game if possible. Same with Oregon Ohio State and Penn State.

My predictions: Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, and Texas will host first round games...three of cold weather venues, making for even more interesting games.

1 Oregon

2 Georgia 

3 Boise State 

4 Arizona State 

5 Notre Dame host

6 Texas host 

7 Penn State host

8 Ohio State host

9 Tennessee 

10 ???  Indiana didn't play as tough a schedule as Alabama. 

11 Clemson

12 SMU