"People Don't Stop Brock Bowers for a Yard"
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ATLANTA - UGA Football QB Stetson Bennett walked to the sideline after a failed 4th-quarter fourth down dumbfounded.
UGA was down two touchdowns and had the ball in the Ohio State red zone. The Dawgs were in the midst of surviving a Buckeyes scoring onslaught that was 17 points in a row. But that was all seemingly gone now.
Georgia needed points - bad. So on fourth and six from the Ohio State 13-yard line, UGA did what any rational team would do in a pinch. They threw the ball to their superstar.
Brock Bowers took it from there. Bowers’ play (and the rest of the frantic fourth quarter at the 2022 Peach Bowl) helped manufacture what might be the best quarter ever played in College Football Playoff history - filled with drama, panic and a pressure-filled game-ending play.
None of that would have happened without Bowers’ gravity-defying play on the UGA sideline that fourth down - not that anyone noticed at first.
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The Yoga Pays Off
UGA Football coach Kirby Smart was mandated by the College Football Playoff to open up at least part of his practice for media viewing. Days before the Dawgs’ fight with Ohio State, the former Georgia defensive back decided to open the end of Georgia’s practice to cameras.
Football was nowhere to be seen. The Dawgs were doing upward dogs… yoga class was in session. No one realized at the time how important that workout could be.
Even Kirby himself, with his hood sliding down over his head as he attempted to keep up on the turf of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, was sculpting himself days before the game. Meanwhile, Bowers was perfecting the craft. In no time Bowers’ yoga would be on full display in one of the most-critical moments of the game.
“People Don't Stop Brock Bowers for a Yard”
Georgia’s fourth-quarter deficit needed to be worked on, and Bennett would have to be the Dawgs’ workhorse to get UGA in scoring positions. Six of seven plays of the first drive of the fourth quarter featured Bennett passing or running the ball. All that set up the critical fourth-and-six.
“It was a little quick out. I ran and I saw the ball coming and I was like: “Man, I gotta get the first down,’” Bowers told Dawg Post about the play.
“He’s got time, and he delivers,” ESPN’s Chris Fowler remarked of Bennett. “And there’s the catch made by Brock Bowers, but did he get there? Where is the spot?”
“The ruling on the field is the runner is short of the line to gain,” Pac 12 referee Chris Coyte informed the crowd.
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“I thought the whole stadium thought we didn't get it, and then they reviewed it,” Bennett said. “Brock was pretty dumbfounded because he was like: ‘I think I got it.’ I was like: ‘I thought you did, too.’ Because of the route, (Bowers) was catching at five yards out, and it was fourth and six - people don't stop him for a yard.”
They don’t - particularly when he’s flying around like something out of The Matrix.
Bowers got the pass from Bennett at the nine-yard line, and turned to his right to start heading up field. Ohio State defensive back Lathan Ransom tried to wrap Bowers up, but couldn’t. Ransom then used his momentum to try to fling Bowers towards the sideline, which he did.
That’s when the California native lost the balance in his feet, and started using the balance in his left hand. It should be pointed out that Bowers correctly had the ball on the outside of his body, which really mattered in this situation - and not just for ball security reasons alone. Bowers reached for the seven-yard line with his left hand. When it firmly in the rubber-infested turf, Bowers defied gravity by managing to keep the rest of his body elevated as he crossed the line to gain with his right hand.
“It was kinda crazy the way my foot came up when I went out of bounds,” Bowers recalled to Dawg Post. “It all kind of just happened. I wasn't really thinking about it in the moment. It’s pretty cool to look back because it was a big first down in the game. I wasn’t really thinking about it. I was just kind of playing.”
ESPN had a camera on the first-down chain set. Had that not been the case it is likely officials would have missed the call completely. Coyte let the crowd at home know as soon as ESPN came back from break that UGA had the ball.
“I didn’t think it was that close, but I am thankful that we got it,” Bowers told Dawg Post. “It is kind of shocking and cool to watch. I was kind of surprised.”
Bowers ended the night against Ohio State with four catches for 64 yards.
Three plays (one of which was a near disaster) later, the Dawgs settled for Jack Podlesny’s cutting the deficit to 11. The Dawgs then forced a three-and-out before Bennett found Arian Smith wide open for a 76-yard touchdown.
Momentum in the game had swung towards the Dawgs for good. Georgia outscored the Buckeyes 18-3 in the final ten minutes of the game. AD Mitchell’s game-winning ten-yard touchdown gave Georgia the one-point margin needed to advance to the National Championship Game against Texas Christian.
Bowers slashed the Horned Frogs. He ended that night with seven catches for 152 yards and a touchdown. The game was UGA’s second national title in as many seasons.
ATLANTA - UGA TE Brock Bowers during No. 1 Georgia's 42-41 win over No. 4 Ohio State during the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on December 31, 2021.