Nick Chubb, Georgia Bulldogs dominate in 37-14 Belk Bowl victory

The Georgia Bulldogs took on the Louisville Cardinals on Tuesday evening in the Belk Bowl. This was a much anticipated match for fans, given that Georgia’s high powered offense would get to face off against the Dawgs old Defensive Coordinator, Todd Grantham. Many fans believe the sorry state of the Georgia defense is due to Grantham’s lackluster coaching and recruiting, so getting a final dig back at his statistically high-ranked defense was pretty sweet. The Dawgs got their revenge on the ground, and then some, in a 37-14 rout of Louisville.

Hutson Mason opened the scoring in the first quarter with a 45 yard pass to Chris Conley for the touchdown. That touchdown almost didn’t happen, as the Dawgs were bailed out by a questionable penalty on Louisville when they failed to convert on third down. Hutson went from almost throwing an interception to suddenly throwing a game-leading score. It was a huge turn of events for UGA.

Louisville responded a long 84-yard drive of their own, capped off by a great catch by Gerald Christian, who snagged one in the back of the end zone with one hand. The Dawgs defense looked really mediocre on that drive and was giving up yards in chunks. But both offenses stalled on their next possessions, and Georgia got the chance to take the lead back on a Marshall Morgan field goal in the second quarter, 10-7.

The defense for Georgia mustered another stop on Louisville’s next drive. Then, Nick Chubb really sparked the offense with a 31 yard run for a touchdown. Momentum was swinging Georgia’s way as they immediately picked off Louisville’s quarterback on the next play. Georgia rumbled down the field to get within the red zone, but they had to settle for another field goal. The half would end with UGA up 20-7.

Unfortunately, the injuries started to mount up for the Dawgs. Hutson Mason had to leave the game with an undisclosed injury, so Brice Ramsey took over as quarterback. Michael Bennett also went out with an injury, leaving Chris Conley as the go-to receiver on the field. Ramsey actually threw an interception at the end of the first half as his first pass, but he started to settle down in the 3rd quarter going 3/4 for 37 yards. That wouldn’t matter as much since Nick Chubb ripped off an 82-yard run from the Louisville 15, which set up a Sony Michel touchdown.

But Louisville wasn’t going quietly into that good night. From their own 30 yard line, the Cardinals managed to put together a 10 play drive with an impossible 3rd and 20 conversion. That would end with a Brandon Radcliff touchdown, and bring the score to Georgia leading 27-14 at the close of the third quarter.

The fourth quarter began with Georgia driving close to mid-field, but they were stopped just short of the 50 with one yard to go for a first down. Richt elected to go for it, but young Ramsey drew Louisville offsides with a hard-count and a free set of downs. With the clock ticking, and the Dawgs up by 13, every minute off the clock was critical. But then Georgia went for it again on the 30 yard line with 4th and 10, and didn’t convert. That could have put Louisville right back in the game, but the Cardinals managed to thrown another interception, this time to Damien Swann.

With just over nine minutes left in the game, Georgia went into bleeding the clock mode. Everything was on the ground or intermediate in the passing game. All the plays were going to the edge of the playclock. They burned about four minutes off the clock and finished the drive off with a field goal to make the score 30-14.

Just to cap things off, Georgia would close it out with another Nick Chubb touchdown. Georgia worked over Louisville in this match and it wasn’t even as close as the score would indicate. Nick Chubb completely owned the ground game with over 260 yards and 2 touchdowns, finishing off an amazing season for the young kid who wasn’t even supposed to play much behind Todd Gurley. Not only did Georgia stick it to Todd Grantham’s vaunted rushing defense, they proved that Louisville must have been playing nothing but cupcakes all year long in that conference.

Georgia was able to do what they wanted to do offensively, and that was the difference in the game. I think fans are going to be looking for even more next year out of Nick Chubb and Brice Ramsey, but they got a nice taste of it as Georgia rolled to a big bowl victory, and another 10-win season.