Ohio State Buckeyes vs Georgia Bulldogs Match Player Stats On Dec 31, 2022

Stetson Bennett threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Adonai Mitchell with 54 seconds left as No. 1 Georgia rallied to defeat No. 4 Ohio State 42-41 in a College Football Playoff semifinal in the Peach Bowl at Atlanta on Saturday.

Noah Ruggles missed a 50-yard field goal with 3 seconds left for Ohio State (11-2).

Georgia trailed by 14 points entering the fourth quarter.

The defending national champion Bulldogs (14-0) play TCU for the title in Inglewood, Calif., on Jan. 9. The No. 3 Horned Frogs downed the second-ranked Wolverines 51-45 in the other semifinal Saturday.

Bennett took the Bulldogs 72 yards in five plays for the winning score.

"It's in our hands now," he said of their final drive. "And then we scored and I was scared to death because they (Ohio State) played a hell of a game on offense.

"I was like, ‘Did we score too fast?' Then our D stepped up. What a game."

C.J. Stroud was 23 of 34 for 348 yards and four touchdowns for the Buckeyes. Bennett finished 23 of 34 for 398 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.

"We came up short," Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. "It came down to one play. It wasn't just the last play. There were a lot of plays in the game you wish you had back as coaches and players and that's what happens in a game like this."

Leading 28-24 in the third quarter, Stroud tossed his fourth TD, a 10-yarder to Emeka Egbuka for a 35-24 lead with 10:37 left. Ruggles added a 25-yard field goal to make it 38-24 heading into the fourth quarter.

A 31-yard field goal by Georgia's Jack Podlesny with 10:14 left in regulation made it 38-27.

Bennett threw a 76-yard TD to Arian Smith, and with a two-point conversion, it was 38-35 with 8:41 to play. Ruggles made a 48-yard field goal with 2:43 to play for a 41-35 score.

Smith had three catches for 129 yards.

The Bulldogs had rallied before.

Georgia scored 17 straight points to take a 24-21 lead on a 32-yard field goal by Podlesny with 1:44 left in the first half but the Buckeyes countered quickly to take a 28-24 halftime lead.

Stroud went 4-for-4 on the drive for 75 yards, the last a 37-yard TD to Xavier Johnson with 49 seconds left heading into halftime.

The score was tied 7-7 early in the second quarter when Miyan Williams rushed for a 2-yard score to put the Buckeyes ahead 14-7. Bennett was then intercepted and Marvin Harrison Jr. had a 16-yard TD to make it 21-7 at the 10:56 mark before the Bulldogs rallied.

Kendall Milton ran for an 11-yard score and Stetson tied it at 21 on his 3-yard run at 6:07 in the second quarter.

Harrison had five catches for 106 yards and two touchdowns, all in the first half for the Buckeyes. He was unavailable for the fourth quarter because of a head injury. Egbuka made eight catches for 112 yards and a score.

"Ohio State probably deserved to win the game but we never quit," Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. "We didn't play our best game. Maybe they didn't either."

--Field Level Media