Paul Finebaum: Georgia, Stetson Bennett erased any doubts on Saturday

Georgia‘s 27-13 win over Tennessee this weekend was highlighted by an elite performance by the Bulldog’s defense and their offense executing at a high level in the first half. ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum was on sight in Athens this weekend for the game and sensed that Georgia head coach Kirby Smart felt good about the matchup heading into it.

“I was with Kirby Smart late Friday, and he’s a hyper guy and he’s intense, and I’ve never seen him more relaxed. And I started thinking he really likes where he is and I think what happened was, we talked off air about the Alabama-Tennessee game, and I think he went back and watched that game and said I think Alabama should’ve won this game a hundred times,” Finebaum explained.

Tennessee’s 52-49 win over Alabama will go down as one of the most memorable of the college football season, highlighted by a strong performance from a Volunteer’s offense that has led the country in points and yards per game for a majority of the season. But Saturday, Georgia made them look pedestrian, holding them to their lowest scoring output of the season and just one touchdown, which was scored in the final four minutes of the ballgame.

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“And he knew what he had to do, and he had the players to do it, and he made every right call,” Finebaum said. “And I know somebody might put your ESPN.com on your phone this morning and go oh, 23-17 must’ve been a good game, no it was not. It was an epic beatdown, it could’ve been significantly worse and probably should’ve been.”

Georgia entered the season as defending Nation Champions and the No. 1 team in the nation, but still had some doubters regarding their ability to contend this season, including Finebaum. The Bulldogs lost a large chunk of their talent to the NFL last season, and are led on offense by one of the most underrated quarterbacks in the nation in Stetson Bennett, who silenced a lot of critics after his performance this weekend.

“Tennessee took a punch to the gut and Kirby Smart is right back to where a lot of his fans thought they would be, but I frankly wondered about it. After a National Championship and after a pretty good season we can finally stop worrying about Stetson Bennett being able to handle the moment,” Finebaum said.

Bennett was electric for the Bulldogs on Saturday, scoring all three of their touchdowns with his arm and his legs. And if he can continue to lead their offense the way he has lately and their defense can maintain their dominance, Georgia will certainly be a hard team to beat as they look to repeat as champions.