CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- No. 13 Georgia (10-3) took control late in the first half and didn't let go against No. 20 Louisville (9-4), ultimately running away with 305 yards on the ground to a 37-14 win in the Belk Bowl. Louisville finishes a very good debut season in the ACC with its third loss to a team that will finish in the AP Top 25. It has to feel like a missed opportunity on a certain level for Georgia, though, a team that ultimately went 4-1 against the AP Top 25 and 4-2 against unranked Power 5 opponents. And the losses were to teams that barely finished with winning records in South Carolina and Florida. Either way, Georgia has a lot coming back and the future seems bright in Athens, particularly on offense. Louisville also established itself as a contender in the ACC and there's no reason to think that will stop.
Georgia has always been chasing the next Herschel Walker, and they've had plenty of dynamic backs take carries between the hedges in Athens since Walker left.
Going into this year, everyone thought it would be Todd Gurley. And Gurley, for the time that he played this season, was fantastic.
But when Gurley got suspended, Nick Chubb came in and ran for 143 yards on 38 carries against a tough Missouri defense in his first start.
He was the runaway -- literally and figuratively -- MVP of the Belk Bowl, alternately plowing over and zooming past defenders on his way to 266 yards and two touchdowns (8.1 per rush).
Chubb, at 5-10 and 228 pounds, is seemingly equal parts strong and fast -- and boy, is he fast. He had an 82-yard rush in the third quarter that saw him power his way through the line and then explode through it as if he were running through a hastily-made large paper sign made by cheerleaders before a high school football game.
He's a special back, and he's only going to continue to improve. What he did after he became the starter came against five of the nation's top 50 run defenses, including three of the top 13 and four of the top 30. And Louisville's run defense was no joke, ranking No. 2 in the country and legitimately one of the nation's best.
Chubb finished the season with 1,547 yards on 219 carries (7.1 per rush) and 14 touchdowns. He'll be rejoined in the backfield next year by Keith Marshall, who played in just three games this year before tearing his ACL, and Sony Michel, another freshman back who finished with 410 yards on 64 carries and five touchdowns (6.4 per rush).
Needless to say, the Bulldogs look to be just as scary on offense next season, particularly on the ground.
All week long, Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino wouldn't commit to a starting quarterback -- would it be Reggie Bonnafon or Kyle Bolin. Bonnafon took over after Will Gardner was knocked out with a season-ending knee injury, only to get knocked out himself against Kentucky in the regular-season finale with a leg injury.
But Petrino did say that both would play. And he stayed true to that.
Bonnafon, a true freshman, started five games for the Cardinals and played in nearly all of them in some capacity. When Bolin came in for Bonnafon against Kentucky, he threw for 381 yards and three touchdowns in leading Louisville to the win.
Bolin ended up getting the start against Georgia, and he played the first three series of the game. Georgia entered the game with the No. 3 pass defense in the country, and Bolin and the Louisville offense moved the ball reasonably well on their first two drives (14 plays for 114 yards, one punt and one touchdown; Bolin was 5-of-8 for 61 yards and a touchdown).
But then Bolin and the offense went three-and-out on his third possession.
Louisville trailed just 10-7 at that point. Bonnafon was then inserted into the game with Louisville down 17-7 with 11:24 to go, and Louisville gained seven yards in five plays and had to punt. Then Bonnafon threw an interception on the first play of his next drive. Georgia returned that to the Louisville nine-yard line and converted it into a field goal, going up 20-7.
Bolin played the rest of the way, but he was under a lot more pressure than he was at the beginning of the game -- he was sacked three times, and all came after Bonnafon's two-drive stint -- and after the 5-of-8 start, he completed 15 of his final 32 attempts (though they went for 239 yards). His two interceptions also came after that.
"It didn't work out the way we would have liked to see it work out," Petrino said of the quarterback rotation.
Bonnafon finished 1-of-3 passing for 14 yards, was sacked once and had an interception. The sack was Bonnafon's only rushing attempt, and Petrino had been hoping to get him involved that way, he said. He just never had a chance.
Georgia's defense has been excellent all season when it has gotten a lead, able to settle in and be more aggressive. With essentially two wasted offensive possessions, Louisville could never regain any momentum it had on its earlier drives.
Louisville also perhaps panicked a little earlier than it needed to, attempting just 10 rushes in the second half (two of which were sacks) and attempting just six non-sack rushes out of 23 plays it ran in the second quarter.
The deficit wasn't that out of control at that point, and Louisville's 27 rushing attempts were tied for its fewest this season (the Cardinals had 27 in a loss at Virginia in September). The 62-yard total was Louisville's worst since 52 in a loss at Clemson (on 38 attempts).
Running the ball more might have taken some pressure off of the Cardinals' young quarterbacks. As it was, Georgia could tee off defensively and Louisville's offense became one-dimensional. Or, more accurately, zero-dimensional.
Louisville had plenty of chances to get back into this game if it could have made Georgia pay for mistakes. But the Cardinals could never quite get momentum back on their side, as they dropped two interceptions at least and turned Georgia's two turnovers into zero points.
On an interception towards the end of the first half, Louisville went nine plays, 42 yards before punting and then when they recovered a fumble early in the third at their 32-yard line, they responded with an interception.
Georgia had plenty of missed chances, too -- the Bulldogs dropped at least one interception, and they failed to turn a fake punt by Louisville that didn't work into any points, while scoring just six points off of three Louisville turnovers. Some of that is a credit to Louisville's defense bowing up when they were needed, but ultimately it was like giving away possessions against a team you can't really afford to do that against.
What's worse is that Louisville had seven penalties for 44 yards, and many came at the worst possible moments. Two of them gave Georgia a first down, including one on the first drive of the game that prevented Louisville from getting a three-and-out stop. The other gave Georgia a first down on a fourth and one in the fourth quarter.
Against a team like Georgia, not to mention already facing a deficit, Louisville didn't have room for mistakes. But they made plenty, and they couldn't force enough.
Louisville's passing offense was relatively pedestrian for the first half of the season. Not coincidentally, the fantastic wide receiver DeVante Parker was out with a foot injury.
When he came back for the final five regular season games (plus the bowl game), the Louisville passing attack found new life. Parker had 855 yards receiving in just three games. Only 54 wide receivers in the country finished with more and all of them played at least nine games.
Parker had some spectacular moments in his final game in a Louisville uniform, ultimately finishing with eight catches for 120 yards in spite of Georgia (understandably) paying a ton of attention to him, including a ridiculous acrobatic catch behind and around a Georgia defender that didn't count because he went out of bounds before making it.
As Parker leaves, though, along with tight end Gerald Christian, plenty of questions remain about Louisville's offense moving forward. The Cardinals lose some senior starters up front, not to mention Parker and running back Michael Dyer. The wide receivers that remain have some upside, like big-play guy James Quick (who had two catches for 57 yards, but some head-scratching drops).
Running back Brandon Radcliff had a nice season as well, finishing as the Cardinals' leading rusher with 144 attempts for 737 yards and 12 touchdowns. He'll be a junior and will likely carry an even bigger load on the ground next year. As for the quarterbacks, Bolin and Bonnafon had nice moments, but if this game was proof of anything, it's that both have a lot of growing to do.
Louisville's defense should still be very good, but the Cardinals are going to have to figure some things out on offense if they want to continue to be one of the top 3-4 teams in the ACC (maybe better).
