Alan Cole has defied the odds and successfully defended his Gamecock Scoop prediction crown through the bowl season. With just one game remaining Gamecock Scoop is giving you our thoughts on the National Championship team.
CFP National Championship Game: Georgia -12.5 v. TCU (Los Angeles) Monday 7:30 with the main telecast on ESPN
TCU and Georgia have met four times on the gridiron, including a now forgotten 2016 Liberty Bowl in Kirby Smart's first season in Athens. Georgia has won all four prior meetings, which of course means nothing come Monday night.
For those that want to vilify the transfer portal with lines like "the rich get richer" we present you TCU. TCU was 5-7 in 2021 and fired longtime coach Gary Patterson. The Frogs lost 15 players to the portal last season following the coaching change, however, many of them transferred down to Group of 5 schools or FCS schools. This allowed new coach Sonny Dykes to mine the portal for significant upgrades from players leaving brand named school like Georgia, Florida State, Texas, and Navy. TCU has parleyed this dream season into landing three transfers from Alabama and one apiece from LSU and Florida. Don't expect TCU to be a one and done team as they appear posed to take over the post Texas and Oklahoma Big 12.
Georgia was a different animal. They didn't bring one player out of the portal last cycle. That tells you that Kirby and his staff felt they had better options at every position than what was in the portal. The Dawgs have already signed several out of the portal this year including two potential All-SEC WRs in Dominic Lovett from Missouri and RaRa Thomas from Mississippi State.
As for Monday night, Georgia is the better team, there is no doubt about that. They have assumed the spot in college football that once belonged to Alabama. There is no program in better shape right now than South Carolina's second biggest rival. Both teams have highly efficient offenses and have enjoyed similar overall production. Statistical breakdown of the offenses.
Scoring:
Georgia: No. 8, 39.4 PPG
TCU: No. 4, 41.1 PPG
Rushing:
Georgia: No. 23, 201.9 rushing YPG
TCU: No. 20, 204.5 rushing YPG
Passing:
Georgia: No. 15, 293 passing YPG
TCU: No. 29, 269.6 passing YPG
Sacks Allowed:
Georgia: No. 4, 0.64 sacks allowed per game this season (9 sacks allowed total)
TCU: No. 47, 1.71 sacks allowed per game this season (24 sacks allowed total)
Plays of 20+ yards:
Georgia: No. 6, 88 plays of 20+ yards this season
TCU: No. 5, 89 plays of 20+ yards this season
Defensively is where this game should turn, as Georgia's defense has been better all-season, although Michigan looked to have same advantage on paper and they got lit up like Christmas tree.
Scoring Defense:
Georgia: No. 5, 14.8 PPG allowed
TCU: No. 64, 26.4 PPG allowed
Rushing Defense:
Georgia: No. 1, 79.9 rushing YPG allowed
TCU: No. 70, 152 rushing YPG allowed
Passing Defense:
Georgia: No. 65, 224.6 passing YPG allowed
TCU: No. 92, 243.2 passing YPG allowed
Sacks:
Georgia: Tied at No. 45, 30 sacks this season
TCU: Tied at No. 45, 30 sacks this season
Penalties:
Georgia: No. 44, 48.5 penalty yards per game
TCU: No. 50, 49.6 penalty yards per game
Everyone here at the Gamecock Scoop staff likes Georgia to prevail Monday and become the first back-to-back champions since Kirby's former boss did it in Tuscaloosa in 2010 and 2011. We hope you've enjoyed following along with us throughout the regular and bowl seasons.
