How Georgia beat Oklahoma in a shootout ... by running the dang ball

Baker Mayfield’s bout with illness notwithstanding, all the questions around Oklahoma’s playoff chances centered around its defense and special teams, which ranked 95th and 56th, respectively, according to S&P+.

But the main issue in the Big 12 had centered around OU’s bizarre insistence on base 3-4 personnel against spread attacks, rather than using a nickel package. Since Oklahoma played the Buckeyes reasonably well early in the year, it seemed having a defense whose best 11 included some larger athletes would pay off in the Playoff.

Then Georgia beat the Sooners 54-48 while running for 317 yards at 9.3 yards a pop. Neither Sony Michel nor Nick Chubb even needed 15 carries to put up 181 and 145 yards apiece, and they added a combined five rushing touchdowns. The Sooners were run off the field by the duo, and their own 531 yards of offense were all to no avail.

While Oklahoma spent most of this season with outside linebackers Obo Okoronkwo (6’1, 240) and Caleb Kelly (6’3, 229) book-ending a large defensive line and an inside linebacker tandem of senior Emmanuel Beal (6’, 218) and freshman Kenneth Murray (6’2, 242), its secondary was not at all big.

Senior Steven Parker was a three-year starter and former blue-chip recruit, but he’s always been more of a coverage safety who could drop down and pick up a slot in man coverage, freeing Kelly to play big on the edge. The Sooners’ other starting safety in this game was Will Johnson, a 6’0, 185-pound former JUCO CB they converted to nickel and then safety. Oklahoma didn’t have a big enforcer behind its LB corps to help clean up runs, and it didn’t plan to rely on one, either.

Throughout the season, the Oklahoma defense was largely designed to rely on Kelly as an extra man against the run. When Georgia played with two tight ends and accounted for him with a big blocker, that meant it was Johnson or Parker who needed to be the extra man against the run. Oklahoma tried to deal with that by playing them on the edges as well, which caused significant issues when young and inconsistent linebackers didn’t fit the run properly.

On this long TD run by Chubb, Johnson is lined up on the left edge and had to backpedal before he could impact the play when Georgia’s big right side blew open a hole in the Sooners defense. Meanwhile, Parker and small cornerbacks Tre Norwood (5’11, 168) and Parnell Motley (6’, 175), are unable to throw their bodies in the path.

On this snap, it’s Parker who’s down on the edge and Johnson deep. Parker (No. 10 on the left) can’t get over after first minding his gap, and Johnson (No. 12) is done in by Chubb’s cut to the outside. Oklahoma cornerbacks getting blocked by receivers and deep safeties having to make impossible open-field tackles were recurring themes.

With this kind of secondary run support, Georgia could have played in double tight end personnel and just run the ball all night for a win.

Oklahoma gave up 13 yards per carry and five rushing TDs to Chubb and Michel because of bad run support, but it would still have been five yards a pop if the Sooners had played Roy Williams and Tony Jefferson at safety, because the Sooners were getting mauled up front.

An adjustment the Bulldogs made after losing to Auburn was to get redshirt freshman Ben Cleveland into the mix at right guard. At 6’6 and 340 pounds, he has a of a tackle’s athleticism and a guard’s punch, making Auburn’s attempt to repeat shutting down the Georgia run game difficult. Here he is (No. 74) pancaking the 6’5, 316-pound Derrick Brown of Auburn:

With Cleveland, the entire Georgia front consists of absolute maulers, as well as the tight end and fullback positions. Oklahoma had a solid defensive line in front of some suspect linebackers, but none were ready for the size and physicality of Georgia.

Watch closely on this early run:

At the point of attack, motioned TE Jeb Blazevich pancakes Okoronkwo, receiver Tyler Simmons pancakes Johnson, and pulling left tackle Isaiah Wynn drives Norwood into the dirt.

When it came time for Georgia to finish the game ...

... there was nothing left in OU’s legs. The Sooners were pretty whipped by this point, since they just had a field goal blocked, but you can again see the Dawgs reach blocking Kelly and Isaiah Wynn easily advancing and driving Beal down the field. Even quarterback Jake Fromm (No. 11 up top) is driving Norwood backwards.

The Bulldogs didn’t find any great solutions to the Oklahoma offense, which lit them up for 48 points and over 500 yards of offense. They were also a tad lucky that the Sooners didn’t make greater use of their matchup advantage with flex TE Mark Andrews, who spent much of his day against linebackers. They could have worked pivot and stick routes to him for consistent gains but frequently looked elsewhere.

Maximizing Andrews on standard downs was Oklahoma’s best chance to run out clock and move the chains in the second half, when the run game wasn’t consistent.

The big key for Georgia was playing more nickel personnel and man coverage over the course of the game, after experimenting with two-deep safeties early and getting gashed by play action. Playing man coverage allowed the Bulldogs to force the Sooners to work, and combined with special teams play that consistently left OU with poor field position, it made for a quiet second half from Mayfield and co.

In overtime, UGA made a series of stops to force kick attempts that won the game, thanks to great man coverage and running down OU’s speed in the flats.

The Sooners lost on a pair of play calls that required OU skill athletes to win the corner against All-American Roquan Smith. First, the third-and-2 sweep:

While the horrendous play of the OU defense and special teams were the real culprits, it was an unquestionably an iffy play call to bring out rarely used WR Jordan Smallwood from a rarely used formation and ask him try to and beat Smith. The play is well designed on the chalkboard, as Dimitri Flowers and Andrews are positioned to make key blocks on the edge, but Smith sniffs it out.

Then on second-and-10 on the next possession:

Georgia disguised a blitz well and Mayfield attempted to flip it out to RB Rodney Anderson for an easy gain, but Smith was all over it again. You can’t shut down OU only by playing man coverage and trading punches, but at least you aren’t always on the receiving end, and the Dawgs made plays when it mattered.

Georgia just needed to play good enough defense to force an all-time performance from Mayfield and the Sooners, and the Bulldogs held it off.

On to the final challenge that Kirby Smart’s Georgia somehow skipped over in SEC play ...