Stetson Bennett describes emotions entering final game at Georgia

Stetson Bennett has one more college game at Georgia and he can go down in history if he leads the Bulldogs to a second straight national title. However, the quarterback did not quite describe his exact emotions.

During a teleconference ahead of the national championship, Bennett was asked to look back at his rollercoaster career. From walk-on to transfer and back to Georgia, and now here, Bennett had quite the journey at the collegiate level.

But whatever Bennett felt at that time, he practically kept to himself and didn’t let others dictate his emotions.

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

When Bennett came back to Georgia in 2019, he was in and out of the lineup over the next two seasons, playing in just 12 games. But over the last two seasons, Bennett came into his own and certainly earned a lot of respect.

Overall, Bennett has 8,124 yards, 62 touchdowns, 21 interceptions and a 64.8% completion percentage in his career. He capped it off as a Heisman finalist this season but could win the bigger prize, another national title.

Trailing by 14 against Ohio State in the semifinals, Georgia kicked a field goal and then forced a punt. When the Bulldogs got the ball back, Bennett found Arian Smith for a 76-yard touchdown to cut the lead to three.

Ohio State managed just another field goal on the ensuing drive and from there, it was Bennett’s time to shine.

Bennett led a five-play, 72-yard drive capped off with a touchdown pass to Adonai Mitchell to take a one-point lead. Georgia’s defense did enough on the next drive as Noah Ruggles missed a 50-yard field goal for Ohio State.

Bennett finished the game 23-of-34 passing for 398 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.

“I mean, I think it’s pretty apparent that we can (play better),” Bennett said. “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.”

Now, Bennett and Georgia take on TCU for the College Football Playoff National Championship Game Jan. 9 at 7:30 p.m. ET.