Peach Bowl: #1 Georgia vs #4 tOSU, Sat 12/31 8 ET on ESPN

[Captain Buckeye]

Your point is fair.

Also, we could go back farther:
2003 - beat *ichigan and there would have been 4 1-loss teams. Maybe Ohio State gets in ahead of LSU or Oklahoma?
1998 - boofjob against Michigan State. Could that team have beaten Tennessee? Maybe.
1996 - boofjob against *ichigan. I forget who was #1 - Florida or Florida State. One team beat the other and then they rematched in the national championship game and the other team won.

That's as far back as I can go on my own, since I started watching in 1986. But how about 1979? Their only loss was in the Rose Bowl.
Or 1973. Their only failure was the tie against *ichigan. And people (*ichigan whiners) like to complain that *ichigan out-played Ohio State in that game. But that's all it is - whining.
1969 - another boof loss to *ichigan kept them out of a championship. (They wouldn't have been required or even able to play the bowl game.)

It's just uncanny how close we've come on so many occasions.

For example, just how lucky is Alabama?

Colt McCoy goes out the first drive in their first title win in 2009, they get a rematch with LSU in 2011, benefit from Ohio State being ineligible in 2012, win on a blown coverage in 2018 and get a decimated OSU team in 2020.

Just how it goes sometimes

 

[ScriptOhio]

‘What if’ Marvin Harrison Jr. never suffered a concussion in the 2022 Peach Bowl?

Route Man Marv’s injury changed the course of the 2022 college football season. But what if the best WR in the game had been (or remained) available to continue cooking the Georgia secondary?

www.landgrantholyland.com

‘What if’ Marvin Harrison Jr. never suffered a concussion in the 2022 Peach Bowl?​

Well... damn. Each and every time I am forced to recall or think about this, I become irrationally angry. Probably should have chosen a different ‘What if’ huh?

But Marvin Harrison Jr.’s concussion and its impact on the game against Georgia (in the College Football Playoff semifinal) will likely go down as one of the biggest Ohio State-related what-ifs of the 21st century. And I don’t consider that statement to be of the hyperbolic variety.

So I simply had to focus on Super Marv’s unfortunate injury as part of LGHL’s theme week, despite my deep desire to avoid self-induced torture. Damn you, Javon Bullard!
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But what I do know, is that if Harrison Jr. had played the fourth quarter of the Peach Bowl, we would absolutely be talking about Ohio State as the reigning champs. Because much like UGA, OSU would have made easy work of TCU in the title game. No disrespect to Sonny Dykes, Max Duggan, and/or Quentin Johnson, but the Horned Frogs would not have stood a chance against the Buckeyes. They would have had no answers on defense for the trio of Stroud, MHJ, and Emeka Egbuka. And even if Johnston made plays against a below-average (OSU) secondary, the Frogs were just too one-dimensional without star running back Kendre Miller.

So there you have it, folks. A big ol’ what-if and a biased view of how things would have played out differently. Have I been eating bitter berries? Perhaps. Will I cry about it – literally or figuratively – in the future? Probably. But Ohio State played a hell of a game against Georgia and Ryan Day really deserved that one. Likewise for Marvin Harrison Jr. and the rest of the Buckeyes.

Here’s hoping most of the same group gets another crack at it in 2023.

 

[Greyshirt]

But here is the issue I have had.....even real time.
How the heck was that not an illegal hit? He hit him late, in the end zone, and was basically head hunting.......but no flag. He was defenseless and was about knocked out.
And I am merely pointing out that it is either a rule or not a rule. And you either enforce it all the time or never. The rule was put in place partially to stop exactly what happened. Which was knocking a player out of the game due to an excessive hit on a WR.

 

[Mike80]

But here is the issue I have had.....even real time.
How the heck was that not an illegal hit? He hit him late, in the end zone, and was basically head hunting.......but no flag. He was defenseless and was about knocked out.
And I am merely pointing out that it is either a rule or not a rule. And you either enforce it all the time or never. The rule was put in place partially to stop exactly what happened. Which was knocking a player out of the game due to an excessive hit on a WR.

Here's the delineation in E-SEC-PN's beauty pageant:

1. If an OSU player got hit like that, play on.

2. If an UGA or any other SEC SEC SEC player got hit like that: flag, ejection, potential arrest (I wish I was only slightly kidding) and instant analysis and continued coverage of the hit for the next week on all platforms.

 

[Greyshirt]

Yeah and let me say that I kind of hate complaining about that event. Because it makes me sound like a whiner and excuse maker and to win anything you have to be willing to take the hits and keep moving forward. Winners don't complain they overcome. But that made a huge difference in the game.
I will actually double down on the fact that Georgia won these last 2 Natty because the best team they played did not have either of their top 2 WRs. Bama the year before beat Georgia in the SEC champ game with their top 2 wideouts and lost one during the game. Then in the Natty Bama lost the second WR to an injury and without the ability to stretch that defense Georgia was able to win. Same exact thing happened against OSU.

If the Smith-Njigba plays and is at the same level as he was before injury I also think OSU wins that game. So let that sink in. Georgia won tight games in the playoffs most like due to the top 2 WRs from the teams they were playing being injured. And realize these are WR that are 1st round draft picks. So we are not talking about average players.

Oh well this is why you have to appreciate all Natty you win because there will always be some level of luck involved or bad luck in these cases for Bama and OSU.

 

[Buckeye86]

No shit.

 

[ScriptOhio]

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith made a bold claim at Wednesday’s congressional hearing on NIL regarding the Buckeyes’ 2022 College Football Playoff semifinal loss to Georgia, Ross Dellenger reports, stating that they would have won the national championship if not for a concussion wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. sustained in the Peach Bowl.

Harrison took a big hit in the end zone from Georgia defensive back Javon Bullard that in real-time resulted in a targeting penalty, but upon review, the officials determined that there was no targeting on the play. The star receiver left the game as Ohio State held a 35-24 lead over the defending champion Bulldogs, who proceeded to pull off a fourth-quarter comeback and beat the Buckeyes on a last-second missed field goal attempt.

“We could have won a national championship last year if we would have let Marvin Harrison play,” Smith said. “But he had a bad hit. That is oversight.”