Ohio State and Michigan reveal why they were eager to ‘get hands on’ Georgia last season

MOBILE, Ala. — Georgia coach Kirby Smart is intent on maintaining an aggressive edge in his program, and it turns out with good reason.

It turns out Ohio State was motivated by the Bulldogs’ perfect record last season, and Michigan was in fact plotting revenge all season long.

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Indeed, the Buckeyes held a 38-24 lead entering the fourth quarter before UGA offensive coordinator Todd Monken dialed in plays he had set up, and Stetson Bennett came through with the fourth quarter execution.

The Bulldogs held on for a 42-41 win when Ohio State missed a last-second field goal and went on to beat TCU by a 65-7 count in the CFP Championship.

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Michigan receiver Ronnie Bell, another Senior Bowl participant, explained that he couldn’t bear to watch.

Bell revealed that the Wolverines — 51-45 losers to TCU — had been plotting to take down Georgia throughout the 2022 season.

The Bulldogs handled Michigan by a 34-11 count in the 2021 CFP Orange Bowl Semifinal, providing a source of motivation.

“It definitely set the bar for the University of Michigan, that’s where we want to be,” Bell said. “We want to be national championship contenders and knocking on that door and making real noise every year.”

The Wolverines and the Bulldogs are the only two programs to make the College Football Playoffs each of the past two seasons.

Michigan declared in the preseason it was motivated by its loss to Georgia in the 2021 CFP Orange Bowl semifinal.

“Georgia, a lot like Ohio (State), was a team that we watched all year,” Bell revealed. “That was a team that we were preparing for all year.

“That’s who we were thinking about, and that’s who we wanted to get our hands on, so that’s another reason whenever we laid an egg against TCU it hurt so bad because we were so close to being right back where we were wanting to be.”

It’s a safe bet the Buckeyes and the Wolverines would be no less motivated if they met Georgia in next season’s College Football Playoffs.