ATLANTA — Georgia swatted away the field goal attempt, the ball spinning to a stop at its 4-yard line. The LSU players trudged off the field, thinking the play was over.
Christopher Smith knew better. He suddenly scooped it up and took off the other way, sprinting 96 yards for a touchdown that epitomized the Bulldogs program.
They were a step ahead of LSU on Saturday.
They’ve been a step ahead of everyone for two years now.
With all sorts of turmoil behind them in the rankings, Georgia headed to the College Football Playoff as the clear No. 1, dismantling the No. 11 Tigers 50-30 in the Southeastern Conference championship game Saturday.
Stetson Bennett’s threw a season-high four touchdown passes in another stellar postseason performance, while Smith’s heads-up play gave the Bulldogs an early spark.
“I’ve got good players around me. I’m not that bad at football, either,” Bennett said with a smile. “We’ve got a good team.”
Georgia (13-0, No. 1 CFP) also caught a big break when Smith deflected a pass that bounced off an LSU receiver’s helmet and wound up being picked off by the Bulldogs, setting up a score that contributed to a 35-10 lead by halftime.
LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels re-injured a sore right ankle late in the second quarter, giving way to Garrett Nussmeier in the second half.
The backup guiding the Tigers (9-4, No. 14 CFP) to three touchdowns, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
Georgia accomplished something that not even last season’s national championship squad could could do — win its first SEC title since 2017. The Bulldogs were denied in this game a year ago by Alabama, before bouncing back to beat the Crimson Tide in the title game.
“I don’t want one kid to walk out of our program without an SEC championship ring in their careers,” coach Kirby Smart said. “That could’ve happened. They said enough is enough and got ‘em one tonight.”
Georgia heads into the playoff assured of a return trip to Atlanta for a de facto semifinal home game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, just 75 miles from its Athens campus.
LSU’s outside hopes of crashing the four-team playoff field were wiped out a week ago by a stunning loss at Texas A&M, one of several upsets that will give the selection committee plenty to think about before its announcement Sunday.
Tennessee and Clemson also ruined their playoff hopes with losses late in the regular season, while No. 4 Southern California is presumably out after getting blown out by Utah in the Pac-12 title game Friday night.
Just as the SEC game was kicking off, No. 3 TCU lost to Kansas State in overtime for the Big 12 championship, further clouding a playoff picture that suddenly looks much more favorable for No. 5 Ohio State and No. 6 Alabama.
No matter who makes the elite field, Georgia is firmly focused on becoming the first repeat national champion since Alabama in 2011-12, having won all but one game this season by double-digit margins.
“I’ve tried not to play attention to any of it,” Smart said of all the chaos. “It didn’t matter to me. That’s so far away.”
The Bulldogs showed they are more than just a bunch of talented athletes — this is a smart, well-coached group.
When Nazir Stackhouse burst through the middle of the line to block LSU’s 32-yard field goal attempt late in the first quarter, Smith knew what to do.
“That’s a scenario we go over a lot in practice,” he said.
He looked toward the sideline to see if it was OK to grab it.
“You’re not allowed to pick it up unless you can score with it,” Smart said.
Smith took care of the rest, dashing to the end zone without a Tigers player in sight.
LSU coach Brian Kelly blamed himself and his staff for allowing the play to happen.
“Obviously, we did a poor job if coaching,” he said. “It’s our responsibility to have our guys alert in that situation. They were not alert.”
LSU quickly tied it up on Daniels’ 53-yard touchdown pass to Kayshon Boutte, only to have Bennett take control from there.
The sixth-year senior, a former walk-on who was offensive MVP of both Georgia playoff wins a year ago, struck for four TD passes in a less than 15-minute span: 3 yards to Brock Bowers, 22 yards to Ladd McConkey, 14 yards to Darnell Washington and 3 yards to Dillon Bell.
Just like that, Georgia led 35-7.
“I was in a zone,” Bennett said.
It’s been that way for two years now.
BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP
No. 13 Kansas State beats No. 3 TCU in OT for Big 12 title
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Ty Zentner kicked a 31-yard field goal in overtime and No. 13 Kansas State beat No. 3 TCU 31-28 in the Big 12 championship game Saturday, leaving the Horned Frogs to wait another day to find out if they had already done enough to get into the four-team College Football Playoff.
The Wildcats (10-3, No. 10 CFP) set up the winning field goal after TCU (12-1, No. 3 CFP) had the first overtime possession and Kendre Miller was stopped short on consecutive plays from inside the 1.
Deuce Vaughn ran for 130 yards and a touchdown and Will Howard threw two TDs for the Wildcats, who six weeks earlier jumped out to a 28-10 lead early in the second quarter before TCU scored the game’s last 28 points.
The first Big 12 team to complete a regular season undefeated since Texas in 2009, TCU could still get into the playoff. While their case was helped when fourth-ranked Southern California (11-2) lost 47-24 to Utah in the Pac-12 championship game Friday night, the Frogs now have to wait until the final CFP rankings come out Sunday.
BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP
NO. 2 MICHIGAN 43, PURDUE 22
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Donovan Edwards ran for 185 yards and a score, J.J. McCarthy threw three touchdown passes and Michigan beat Purdue for its second straight Big Ten title and a likely No. 2 playoff seed.
College football’s winningest program has the first 13-win season in school history. Two more victories would give the Wolverines (13-0, No. 2 CFP) their first national championship since 1997.
And with injured star Blake Corum sidelined by a season-ending left knee injury, Edwards stole the show for the second straight week. After shredding rival Ohio State for 216 yards and two scores last week, Edwards broke open this game with a 60-yard on the first play of the second half to set up one score. He added a 27-yard TD sprint on Michigan’s next series to make it 28-13.
Purdue (8-5) never recovered from Michigan’s quick, seven-play onslaught after it trailed 14-13 at halftime.
ACC CHAMPIONSHIP
NO. 10 CLEMSON 39, NO. 24 NORTH CAROLINA 10
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Backup quarterback Cade Klubnik completed 20 of 24 passes for 279 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score and Clemson beat North Carolina to reclaim the Atlantic Coast Conference championship.
Cornerback Nate Wiggins broke up two passes in the end zone, blocked a field goal and returned an interception 98 yards for a touchdown to help the Tigers win their seventh ACC title in eight seasons.
Clemson (11-2, No. 9 CFP) won six straight ACC championships from 2015 to 2020 before failing to reach the title game last season. But coach Dabo Swinney’s Tigers rebounded in a big way, going 9-0 against ACC foes this season to reach the Orange Bowl.
With Clemson down 7-0, Swinney benched two-year starter D.J. Uiagalelei after the Tigers failed to pick up a first down on their first two possessions, Swinney turned to Klubnik, a 5-star recruit from Austin, Texas. He responded by leading the Tigers to four straight scores and a 24-10 lead at halftime. Clemson stretched it to 39-10 heading into the fourth quarter.
IACC player of the year Drake Maye was limited to 268 yards passing and turned the ball over three times for North Carolina (9-4, No. 23 CFP).
AAC CHAMPIONSHIP
NO. 18 TULANE 45, NO. 22 UCF 28
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Michael Pratt accounted for 442 total yards and five touchdowns, Tyjae Spears highlighted his 199 yards rushing with a 60-yard score and Tulane beat UCF in the American Athletic Conference championship game.
The victory virtually assured Tulane (11-2) would play in the Cotton Bowl — its first major New Year’s Day bowl since the 1939 season — only one season after going 2-10.
Pratt passed for a career-high 394 yards, including touchdowns of 73 yards to Duece Watts, 60 and 10 yards to Shae Wyatt and 43 yards to Lawrence Keys. Pratt also ran for a pivotal 18-yard touchdown with 4:04 left.
The Green Wave, which earned the right to host the title game by ending Cincinnati’s 32-game home winning streak last weekend, avenged a 38-31 regular-season loss to UCF (9-4) on the same field three weeks ago.