Georgia senior running backs Nick Chubb and Sony Michel have been special for four football seasons.
They were better than ever during Monday’s 54-48 victory in double overtime over Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl. Both averaged more than 10 yards per carry, with Chubb rushing 14 times for 145 yards and Michel carrying 11 times for a career-high 181.
“No. 27 and No. 1 have put this team on their shoulders,” Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart said Monday night in a news conference. “All they do is do it right. They really embody what this team is all about.”
Chubb’s 145 yards gave him 4,744 yards for his career, while Michel’s 181 gave him 3,540. They entered Monday ranked second and third on Georgia’s all-time rushing chart behind Herschel Walker, and the Bulldogs are the first team in Southeastern Conference history with a 4,000-yard and a 3,000-yard career rusher.
Michel ripped off a 75-yard touchdown run after Oklahoma had built an early 21-7 lead, setting a Georgia record for the program’s longest touchdown run in a bowl game. Kent Lawrence set the standard with a 74-yarder in a Cotton Bowl win over SMU following the 1966 season, and Robert Edwards matched it during the 28-25 comeback overtime win over Purdue at the Outback Bowl after the 1999 season.
“We were just wanting to play our style of football,” Michel said. “Oklahoma has a great defense and created some three-and-outs for us, so we wanted to keep pounding. We had faith in each other.”
Michel went over 1,000 yards for the season for the second time in his career, and he and Chubb became the first Georgia tandem to accomplish that milestone in the same year. They also posted 100-yard games this season in the 45-14 win at Vanderbilt.
Georgia had five rushing touchdowns against the Sooners, giving the Bulldogs a school-record 41 this season.
Sanders strikes again
Georgia forced Oklahoma to punt on its first three possessions of the second half and then collected a turnover when senior safety Dominick Sanders intercepted Baker Mayfield. The interception was the 16th for Sanders, tying the school record set by Jake Scott (1967-68) and matched by Bacarri Rambo (2009-12).
Sanders returned the interception 39 yards to Oklahoma’s 4-yard line, which set up a 4-yard touchdown pass from Jake Fromm to Javon Wims to give Georgia its first lead at 38-31 with 13:57 remaining in regulation. The 39 yards allowed Sanders to extend his school standard for career interception-return yardage to 381. That total is second in the SEC to former Tennessee safety Eric Berry’s 494.
A record kick
The Bulldogs were heading into halftime facing a 31-14 deficit until Rodrigo Blankenship made it 31-17 with a 55-yard field goal as time expired. It was the longest field goal in the redshirt sophomore’s career, shattering the 49-yard kick he made at Kentucky in November 2016.
Blankenship’s kick is the longest in Georgia bowl history, topping a 52-yarder by Brandon Coutu in the 41-10 drubbing of Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl after the 2007 season.
Odds and ends
Georgia has won 13 games for the second time in program history, matching Mark Richt’s 2002 team that went 13-1 and won the Sugar Bowl in his second season. … Michel’s fumble that was returned for a touchdown with 6:52 remaining in regulation was Georgia’s first turnover since the Kentucky game on Nov. 18. … Junior inside linebacker Roquan Smith, who entered Monday with a team-high 113 tackles, added 10 against the Sooners, while senior outside linebacker Lorenzo Carter had nine. … Sanders made his 52nd career start, which matched quarterbacks David Greene (2001-04) and Aaron Murray (2010-13) for the second-most in school history behind kicker Blair Walsh, who had 53 (2008-11). … The Bulldogs improved their all-time bowl record to 31-19-3.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.