Georgia ready for historic Rose Bowl meeting with Oklahoma

Seventy-five years have passed since Georgia last played in the Rose Bowl. That was the only previous time in program history that the Bulldogs played in the postseason game dubbed "The Granddaddy of them All." The fact that Georgia has returned over seven decades later is an historical moment for a program that hasn’t had the opportunity to travel West often for a bowl game.

Adding to the importance is the fact that this game is for a berth in the College Football Playoff national championship game. Georgia will take on Oklahoma at 5 p.m. Monday in Pasadena, California, which also marks the first time these two schools will ever have played each other.

Georgia’s road has been eerily similar to the one it took the last time it played in a Rose Bowl. That 1942 season, which ended in a 9-0 win over UCLA in the 1943 Rose Bowl, was also later credited as being a national championship season.

In both seasons, Georgia won an early season road game by one point. In 1942, the Bulldogs defeated Kentucky 7-6. This season, Georgia escaped Notre Dame 20-19. In most of the remaining games, Georgia blew out the opposition in both seasons.

And it just so happened that in each of the 1942 and 2017 regular seasons, the Bulldogs lost to Auburn by double digits. Of course, this year, the Bulldogs exacted revenge with a 28-7 rematch win over the Tigers in the SEC Championship. The conference title game didn’t exist in 1942.

Each of these Georgia teams were led offensively by a duo of stellar running backs. In 1942, it was Frank Sinwich and Charley Trippi. This year, and for the past three years as well, it has been Nick Chubb and Sony Michel leading the way for Georgia’s top-notch ground game.

So there is a distinct parallel, to date, with Georgia’s current season and the one it had 75 years ago in its last Rose Bowl trip.

This season, the Bulldogs put last year’s 8-5 campaign in the rear view by exceeding expectations in head coach Kirby Smart's second season. After demolishing Mississippi State 31-3 at home in the fourth week of the season, it became apparent that Georgia would be a team to reckon with.

There has been something for every Georgia fan to enjoy this season. It can be called a revenge tour, even. After dropping two games in a row to Tennessee over the past couple of years, the Bulldogs went into Neyland Stadium and crushed the Volunteers 41-0. After dropping a stunner to Vanderbilt a year ago, the Bulldogs blew out the Commodores 45-14.

Falling victim to Florida in three consecutive seasons, Georgia jumped out to an early three-touchdown lead in this year’s game en route to a 42-7 win. Having dropped a 13-point lead to Georgia Tech a year ago, Georgia ensured that wouldn’t happen this season in a 38-7 victory.

Then came the SEC Championship rematch, with Georgia avenging the regular-season loss at Auburn. With the Bulldogs riding high into the Rose Bowl, Smart said he has been doing his part to ensure his team has an even-keeled feel to it.

“I'm trying to make sure they understand that you can't acknowledge the pats on the back,” Smart said. “You can't embrace that. You can't feel good about yourself because obviously their hometown, their communities, in the media, winning the SEC Championship is a great honor and they'll have that for a long time. It will be on these walls for a long time, but they can't be satisfied. I think that is what makes the difference in the playoffs. How you approach this layoff and the perspective which you view it. So how are we managing that? We're bringing speakers in, we're using every resource we have to make sure they take advantage of this opportunity. We're challenging them each day.”

Georgia’s challenge against Oklahoma will be unlike any it has faced this season, however. The only other team with this kind of balanced offense that Georgia has faced was Auburn. And Auburn didn’t have a Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback.

Baker Mayfield has had his way in every game this season, which led to his runaway Heisman win. Mayfield has thrown for 4,340 yards, 41 touchdowns and only five interceptions. But the Sooners don’t only rely on Mayfield to move the ball through the air.

“The Heisman winner, he makes everything go,” outside linebacker Lorenzo Carter said. “We have to make sure we keep him contained and not let him do too much.”

While Oklahoma has the nation’s No. 3 passing attack at 367.4 yards per game, it also has posted 215.9 rushing yards per game, which ranks No. 27 nationally. The best defense Oklahoma has played this year was Ohio State’s, which ranks eighth nationally against the run (108.8 rushing yards per game). The Sooners were still able to total 104 rushing yards and a touchdown on the Buckeyes in a 31-16 win.

“I just think that’s one thing a lot of people overlook,” safety J.R. Reed said. “With the high-flying (passing) plays and the touchdowns, they run the ball a lot. They make 200 (rushing) yards almost every game.”

This is the kind of moment Georgia’s players have longed wanted to be in. Meanwhile, Oklahoma has been in this position before, with the Sooners reaching the College Football Playoff only two years ago.

The Bulldogs haven’t been in this sort of position since 2012, which is when the SEC Championship served as a de facto play-in game to the BCS National Championship. Georgia lost a heartbreaker to Alabama 32-28 then and was forced to finish its season in the Capital One Bowl.

While Georgia is still a game away from a national championship berth, the fact that it is in the Rose Bowl has resonated throughout the locker room.

“It’s pretty amazing, just knowing we have the opportunity to go out and play in the Rose Bowl,” inside linebacker Roquan Smith said. “It’s a historic field where a lot of legends have played. So I think it will be a great challenge for us and the defense to play that type of offense.”

This story was originally published December 26, 2017 at 4:20 PM with the headline "Georgia ready for historic Rose Bowl meeting with Oklahoma."