ATLANTA — CJ Stroud staring into space.
About 30 minutes have passed since Georgia beat Ohio State 42-41 in the College Football League semifinals at the Peach Bowl on Saturday, and two-time finalist Heisman Trophy still has a lot to deal with.
When the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, Buckeyes kicker Noah Ruggles missed a potentially winning 50-yard goal in a match that would have sent his team to the national championship.
If the Ruggles’ kick goes straight, Ohio State will return home to Columbus on Sunday to begin game planning TCUbut annoying Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl earlier in the day. They will then head to Los Angeles in the next few days to begin preparing for the biggest prize of the year College football.
Instead, the season is over.
Georgia stuns Ohio state with late Peach Bowl rally
And so Stroud sat there in an Ohio State jersey and sweatband. He’s desperate and heartbroken, sitting next to Ryan Day and his guardian Zach Harrisonask questions about what just happened.
“I can’t say too much about how we fought,” said Stroud, who completed 23 of his 34 348-yard passes and four touchdowns without being intercepted, though he did. was fired four times.
“We keep fighting, keep fighting, keep fighting, keep fighting. Of course, you’ll regret certain plays, wish you had done this, wish you had do that. Of course, you want to win stuff like this and this means a lot to us. I mean, me and Coach Day, man, it’s like we get up early every morning and talking on the phone constantly, anything we can do to win and put a smile on everyone’s face. It’s tough.”
Unlike after the Michigan loss, when the Buckeyes’ future was unclear – they didn’t slip into the fourth playoff spot until next week – the aura looked different on Saturday night at Mercedes Stadium- Benz. Day is oddly optimistic for a coach who has just lost a playoff game by such a narrow margin. Stroud said with confidence and resilience, heaping praise on his head coach and the program he will soon leave behind, as he is expected to become a top pick in Tournaments. NFL draft.
Maybe it’s because Ohio State has really silenced some skeptics and answered some pressing questions. Going into this game, there was a lot of talk about how Ohio State could deal with Georgia five weeks after its second dismaying defeat in a row to Michigan. Will they let The Game hang in their preparations? Will they be threatened? Is the show at a fork in the road? Is it legitimate to be concerned that Day might not be the one to lead Ohio State to the national championship when the Buckeyes are some kind of national championship program or bankrupt?
After Saturday’s results, any lingering questions can be narrowed down to this: Will a one-point loss in the CFP semi-final to the defending national champions be enough to change that? – if not completely abolished – the current narrative that the State of Ohio is not set up to become a perennial power like Georgia and Alabama?
After losing to Michigan, Ohio State got back to work straight away – before the Buckeyes knew they were going to play Georgia. With Stroud as the lead, the athletes returned to the weight room and put together more reps on the court, even before that. USCloss in Pac-12 The championship allowed OSU to slide into fourth and final place in the playoffs. Then, in the 35 days between games in Michigan and Georgia, Day said his team had 1,500 repetitions in their bleak practice sessions in preparation for this game. They even had a chart analyzing it. This drops to an average of 42 repetitions per day.
It almost paid off. Ohio State has come very close to causing discomfort.
At the end of the fourth quarter, Stetson Bennett led Georgia on a five-time, 72-yard run to a one-point lead. They left 54 seconds for Stroud to do something. twice Big Ten Attacker of the Year made clever plays, such as a 27-yard challenge to the UGA’s 31-yard line, and threw the ball away in third as Georgia made a strike. total effort, setting the ultimate goal-scoring effort.
“But that doesn’t mean anything if you don’t win,” Day said. “And I think that’s probably the most hurtful thing is when you put so much work, so much energy and so much time into something, and you’re right there and you just – you don’t win. .
“This is a performance business, and you win, or you lose, and we lost the game. It’s just what hurts our core. And that’s what. We’re here to won, and that didn’t happen.”
There’s a feeling that Day’s seat could be a bit warmer after the Michigan game. Stroud was quick to support his coach, praising his game plan and decision making on Saturday, including his first call-down after Stroud ran to the 31-yard line in his drive. final. The day is called running and playing Dallan Haydenwho was dealt with for losing 1 yard.
Day explains the idea is that they still have two timeouts and a few yards that can assist the goal on the field. He said he wouldn’t change the call even though he didn’t, and Stroud was quick to say, “it was a good call, a great call.”
Ohio State also gave up some explosive games against Georgia, similar to the one it was allowed to play against Michigan. Have by Kenny McIntosh A 52-yard run midway through the first half that would have been a touchdown if the backtrack hadn’t tripped on the court (it still set up a touchdown for Georgia two innings later). And there was Bennett’s 76-yard bomb to Arian Smith in the fourth quarter to turn it into a three-point game. But Day explained that while restricting big plays like those was something they tried their best to avoid, this time was different.
“The difference is, in this game, it doesn’t dismay us,” Day said. “We kept fighting and fighting, and we just kept going with it.
“But let’s call it. If we want to win these games, we can’t give up those big explosive games. It’s very hard to come back. But there’s still a lot of positives out there. “
Ohio State matches Georgia’s relentless energy, physicality, and attitude, and for the most part, takes complete control. Buckeyes only fail this time.
“Let’s call it what. They’re defending national champions, undefeated,” Day said of Georgia. “They’re a good team. But I don’t think there’s a single person in that dressing room who doesn’t feel that we shouldn’t win the game. Again, that’s part of this going to happen to our stomachs. me for a long time.”
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Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball, and soccer for FOX Sports. She has previously written for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She’s the author of the book “Strong Like a Woman,” published in the spring of 2022 to celebrate Title IX’s 50th anniversary. Follow her on Twitter @LakenLitman.
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