Stetson Bennett reworded Georgia’s script and ended up being a legend
INGLEWOOD, Calif.– Angelo Pizzo understands a thing or two about great underdog stories. He wrote the movie scripts for “Hoosiers” and “Rudy,” two of the most renowned sports films of all time. He understands a good storyline.Pizzo, 75, sees a great deal of
Rudy Ruettiger– the walk-on who played 3 snaps in one game for Notre Dame in 1975– in Stetson Bennett, the Georgia Bulldogs’small star quarterback.”He resembles Rudy with more skill– a lot
more skill,”Pizzo said.”It takes a special person. It takes a special belief. You have to kind of overcome all the logic that says,’You’re not that. Go play for Georgia State, not Georgia.’He had this belief and saw things and felt things that nobody else did.”
On Monday night, about 11 miles from Hollywood, Bennett put the complements on a storied college profession that not even Pizzo might have written. The former walk-on, who left Georgia for a year to dip into a junior college then returned when the team required him, led the No. 1 Bulldogs to a 65-7 success over No. 3 TCU in the College Football Playoff Championship game presented by AT&T at SoFi Stadium.Georgia ended up being the 5th team to complete 15-0 and the very first to duplicate as national champ in the CFP age. The Bulldogs are simply the fourth to go back-to-back because 1990; Nebraska (1994 and 1995), Southern California (2003 and 2004)and Alabama (2011 and 2012) were the others.Bennett, 25, became only the eighth quarterback in the AP poll period to lead his group to back-to-back nationwide titles.Bennett’s final act was his opus. He finished 18 of 25 passes for 304 yards
with four goals and ran for two more scores. Bennett tied previous LSU quarterback Joe Burrow for the majority of points responsible for in a CFP title game with 36. According to ESPN Stats & Details research, he is the only player over the past 25 years to have 4 passing goals and two rushing scores in a game versus a top-five opponent. Stetson Bennett was called the
offending MVP of two CFP semifinals and 2 CFP national championship games. Steph Chambers/Getty Images “Stetson promotes himself, the method he leads and prepares, “Georgia coach Kirby Smart said.” His psychological makeup is such of a quarterback that believes he can make every toss, and what he did tonight was genuinely amazing. Most likely had his finest game of his career, in my viewpoint, with a few of the checks he made, some of the decisions he made, just truly elite.”
Nobody might have anticipated that Bennett’s curtain call would come with about 13 1/2 minutes remaining in the game. With Georgia leading 52-7, Smart called a timeout. Bennett hugged a few of his offending linemen and tight end Brock Bowers, and after that quarterback strolled to the sideline, where he was greeted with another hug from Smart.During the break, as the Redcoat Marching Band played, Georgia fans saluted Bennett by illuminating their cell phones and waving their arms in unison.
“I told all the people, ‘What are we doing? Why don’t we have a play?'” Bennett said. “I was, like, they’re letting me go out of here.”
It was a fitting homage for a quarterback who started his college career by imitating Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield in bowl practices before playing the Sooners in the 2018 Rose Bowl and ended it as arguably one of the 2 or three most accomplished players in Georgia football history.
1 Related”At any time there’s a conversation, he’s going to be in the discussion about who is the very best player and quarterback in Georgia history,”stated Buck Belue, who was the last quarterback before Bennett to lead the Bulldogs to a national title, in 1980.”I don’t see anybody else winning back-to-back titles. That’s like a royal flush. Who’s going to top that?”
A year ago, when the Bulldogs had a historically talented defense with 5 beginners picked in the first round of the 2022 NFL draft, some critics questioned whether they won their very first national title in 41 years in spite of their quarterback. Some Georgia fans, whether they’ll admit it now or not, were prepared for Bennett to carry on so that younger quarterbacks like Carson Beck and Brock Vandagriff would have a chance to play.On Jan. 12, 2022, two days after tossing two fourth-quarter touchdowns to lead Georgia to a 33-18 triumph against Alabama in the CFP title game, Bennett walked into Smart’s office and informed him he was thinking about returning.
“I’m attempting to choose if I’m going to come back or ride off in the wind,” Bennett informed his coach, according to Smart. “I do not understand everybody’s telling me I must just ride off into the sundown [and] be the famous quarterback who won a national title. That’s simply not who I am I am. I don’t get it. Why should I do that when I have a chance to play again? Why do not we go win it again?”
Smart, who knew the Bulldogs were going to lose 15 players to the NFL, wasn’t as confident as his quarterback.
“I’m kind of thinking, ‘Well, that would be nice, however we lost 15 draft choices,'” Smart stated. “May not be that simple this time.” However Bennett believed Georgia would be good enough again. “He had complete conviction that he wanted to return and go opposite of the mainstream,” Smart said. “He said, ‘I want to go play. I wish to go play football and show to people this is no fluke. We can do this.’ And he did whatever that he said he was going to do.”
This season, it was clear that Georgia would not have won a second national title without him. He was 7-0 against ranked challengers, throwing 20 touchdowns with just three interceptions. Throughout the regular season, he beat Oregon’s Bo Nix, Florida’s Anthony Richardson, Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker and Kentucky’s Will Levis, who are all considered possible NFL quarterbacks.Bennett threw 4 goals in the first half of a 50-30 rout of LSU in the SEC national championship. He had two fourth-quarter touchdown passes against Ohio State in the CFP semifinal, including the game winner to Adonai Mitchell with 54 seconds left, to bring Georgia back from a 14-point deficit in a 42-41 victory.Ironically, it was a walk-on quarterback who got Smart to open up his offense. Throughout Smart’s very first number of seasons as coach of his university, he leaned on what he had found out at Alabama as Nick Saban’s protective coordinator. The Bulldogs ran the ball and played stout defense.But when the Bulldogs were struggling to land highly desired quarterbacks and game-changing wide receivers, Smart altered his philosophy. After the 2019 season, Smart shook up his training staff and employed offending organizer Todd Monken, who had just been fired by the Cleveland Browns.”[ Smart] desired a certain quantity of structure, a particular quantity of NFL experience,”Monken stated.
” How would you be explosive? Maybe change the narrative. Just that you’re conservative, you don’t want to be explosive. You’ve got to get excellent skill players; you’ve got to get quarterbacks. How do we do that?”Eventually, Monken and Bennett became the ideal collaboration, but it took a while to arrive. Bennett took over the offense only after Justin Fields transferred to Ohio State, Wake Forest transfer Jamie Newman pulled out and Southern California transfer JT Daniels got hurt.Together, Monken and Bennett produced 2 of the most prolific offenses in Georgia history. This season, Bennett ended up being the Bulldogs’first 4,000-yard passer.
In 4 CFP contests, he completed 67.8%of his passes for 1,239 backyards and 12 touchdowns with one interception, and he tallied two scoring runs. As Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart said of Bennett,”I understand he’s got GOAT status in Athens, Georgia, forever.”Ezra Shaw/Getty Images”He’s at the top– the really leading, “Georgia offensive take on Broderick Jones stated when asked where Bennett ranks among Bulldogs players.”Stetson has actually done so much for this program it’s insane. All the method from offering [the defense] scout aims to playing to throwing game-winning balls. He’s done everything he could at the University of Georgia. “Georgia pass receiver Ladd McConkey agreed. “I believe he goes down as the top,”McConkey said.”He won 2 championship games, back to back. He appeared in every method possible and has done so much for this program. I believe he needs to head out on top.
“Less than an hour after confetti stopped falling from the ceiling of SoFi Arena, Smart was asked, of all things, about Bennett’s ineligibility for the College Football Hall of Popularity. Due to the fact that he was never
called an All-American, Bennett won’t get the sport’s greatest post-career honor. He was 29-3 as a starter. He was called the offending MVP of two CFP semifinals and 2 CFP championship games.”I do not know about the prerequisites, “Smart said.”I know he’s got GOAT status in Athens, Georgia, permanently. “When Smart strolled into his office at SoFi Stadium after Monday night’s game, he discovered his 10-year-old son, Andrew. Believing somebody had harmed his sensations, Smart asked him,”Why are you sobbing? You’re going to destroy my minute.”
“Stetson is leaving,”Smart’s kid stated.” He’s going to go.”” He’s 25 years old,”Smart stated.”He’s got to go. He’s got to leave.”And now the Bulldogs will need to try to win another national championship without him.