You don’t overcome the odds, the injuries, and yourself to become the champions of the Southeastern Conference without a total team effort. Still, in a game such as this some young men are bound to demonstrate their understanding that there is no tradition more worthy of envy, no institution worthy of such loyalty as The University of Georgia. Those are your MVDs, the Most Valuable ‘Dawgs from Georgia’s 22-19 title game triumph over the Texas Longhorns.
Offense: Trevor Etienne. Georgia had only 277 yards of offense on the night. Trevor Etienne accounted for 122 of them, and scored both Bulldog touchdowns, both on hard runs on which he just refused to go down. Etienne said this summer that he came to Georgia to win championships. He played through the pain of an ongoing rib injury, and now has one. I certainly wouldn’t fault anyone who nominated Gunner Stockton in this spot, but I just don’t think the Dawgs are in position to win this one at the end without Etienne.
Defense: Daylen Everette. Everette has been consistently frustrating all season, giving up big plays at bad times for much of the year when put in man coverage. And tonight Texas’s Matthew Golden certainly got his yardage against Everette. But the two interceptions and numerous passes defended by Everette on the night kept the Red and Black in this one. If this wasn’t his best game as a Bulldog I don’t know which one was.
Special Teams: Peyton Woodring. Unusually, this was probably the most difficult superlative to award. Drew Bobo had a clutch play on the fake punt to get the ball to Arian Smith. I don’t know how you overstate the cool of an offensive guard to handle a snap and then get it to the receiver in that kind of pressure situation. I assume that Bobo’s current 100% completion percentage will remain intact, and he will leave Athens as a more statistically efficient passer than his dad. Of course Arian Smith gets credit for handling that toss and getting the necessary first down yardage. Smith of course also had a clutch fumble recovery that will keep me from grumbling about his dropped passes (at least for awhile).
But on a night when All-SEC candidate Bert Auburn demonstrated that it really is tough to perform under pressure in this kind of environment, Peyton Woodring was 3 of 3 on field goals, with every one of them being critical to getting Georgia into overtime. We’ve said this a lot this year, but Woodring has been a Godsend. Georgia is absolutely not headed to the College Football Playoff without him putting points on the board in pressure situations all season long.
By now you should know the drill. Am I right? Am I wrong? Either way, let me know in the comments.
Go ‘Dawgs!!!