CJ Stroud breaks down final drive vs Georgia, how he left his heart on the field
Ohio State and Georgia came down to the wire and Buckeyes quarterback C.J. Stroud left it all out on the field. On the final drive, Stroud led the Buckeyes down the field in position for a 50-yard field goal attempt.
Unfortunately, while trailing 42-41, Noah Ruggles missed his attempt, giving Georgia the win and a second straight trip to the national championship. But that did not diminish Stroud’s performance.
The quarterback stayed humble and did not blame the outcome on one play either.
“First and foremost, I want to give praise to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” Stroud said. “Amazing just to be out there in that atmosphere and just have the opportunity to play with my brothers again. I mean, I just try to leave it all on the line. I don’t think honestly, games like this, you’re at a loss for words. I mean to come down on one play, but honestly, it doesn’t come down to one play.
“So many things that line up to those plays, but that last drive, I saw how much time we had with timeouts and I knew that we could do it. And I tried my hardest to get us down there. I mean, I gotta maybe split somebody else, make another move, try to just get a little more. But I mean, I tried my hardest. I think I left my heart out and I feel of course, I mean, it’s something that is heavy on the heart. It’s gonna be tough.
“But I mean, I wouldn’t want to go out there anybody else. I love my teammates so much and we put everything on the line and I would never want to do it with anybody else.”
Stroud finished the game 23-of-34 passing for 348 yards and four touchdowns, while adding 34 rushing yards.
Stroud nearly pulled it off and got to his first national title game. That type of performance led to praise from Georgia head coach Kirby Smart.“I’ll open with a lot of respect for Ohio State, Coach Day and his program,” Smart said. “I saw C.J. [Stroud] out there, and my heart goes out to those guys because they played well enough to win the game, and they got a really good football team. So do we. We didn’t play our best football game. A lot of that had to do with Ohio State.”