georgia football stetson bennett national championship

Stetson Bennett knows Saturday night wasn’t his best performance. Despite throwing for a career-high 398 yards and three touchdowns to go along with a rushing touchdown, the Georgia quarterback added he played bad football for about 30 minutes on Saturday as well.

And he knows this offense, even after scoring 42 points against Ohio State, can and has to be better.

“I think it’s pretty apparent that we can,” Bennett said on playing better. “We opened up the second half with two three-and-outs. Now, part of that is Ohio State is an unbelievable team and they played really well. But, yeah, I definitely feel like we can clean things up and play better than we did.”

Monday’s game against TCU will be the final of Bennett’s storied career. If he plays well, there’s a very likely chance Georgia takes home its second-consecutive national championship.

He’ll also cross of some major statistical milestones with a strong performance against the Horned Frogs. He needs 71 passing yards to set the school’s single-season record, currently held by Aaron Murray as he threw for 3,893 yards in 2012. Bennett needs 177 passing yards to become the school’s first 4,000-yard passer in program history.

Bennett acknowledged he is aware as he wants to be of the school records he can take down. And that he’s got one more chapter to write in his extraordinary college career.

“I try to see things for what they are, and I don’t let people tell me what they are,” Bennett said on what’s gotten him to this point. “I try to figure that out on my own. And I think I’ve done a pretty good job of that.”

That mental outlook is what has allowed Bennett to transcend his previous roles as a walk-on, back-up and player who was benched during his long college career.

The ability to keep going in the face of adversity is a big reason the Georgia quarterback was able to overcome a sloppy third quarter against the Buckeyes. On his final two drives of the game, Bennett completed all six of his passing attempts for 148 yards and two touchdowns.

When the moment was the biggest, Bennett delivered once again.

“He’s never real real high or real real low, which I think is a great trait for a quarterback,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said of Bennett. “And I think that helps him in the fourth quarter to be able to go execute. He has a lot of confidence. I think his coaching staff does a great job preparing him to be in those moments.”

Bennett has played a lot of football in his Georgia career, as the game against TCU will be his 32nd start as a Georgia Bulldog. He’s 28-3 as a starter in his career and has often been at his best when the lights are the brightest. In games against teams ranked in the top 25 this season, Bennett has 21 touchdowns to 4 interceptions.

Most importantly, the Bulldogs are 6-0 in those games. Going 7-0 would give Bennett and his teammates a second national championship.

Much of the focus and attention on this game will be on Bennett. That comes with the position. For Bennett, he’s not too worried about the honors and accolades that could come after a second-straight championship.

He just wants to play better in his final game. Not for himself, but for his teammates that have helped him get to this point.

“You owe it to your teammates more,” Bennett said. “And if you give up it’s almost a selfish thing because people out there are relying on you. And you’re not just playing for yourself. And so there really wasn’t an option but to keep going. And things worked out and we played really well at the end.”

Kirby Smart shares the key trait that allows Stetson Bennett to be great

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