Georgia Postgame Notes For AutoZone Liberty Bowl
December 30, 2016 | Football
Recap | Final Stats | Photo Gallery 
MVP Thompson Record-Setting Day: Sophomore DT Trenton Thompson, named the overall MVP today, set a Liberty Bowl record and tied a Georgia bowl record with three sacks today, and he finished with eight tackles and 3.5 TFL. He shares the sack mark with David Pollack (2005 Outback Bowl) and Marcus Howard (2008 Sugar Bowl). The second sack was for a loss of seven yards and moved TCU back to the 24 and the drive ended with a missed field goal as TCU held a 16-7 lead at that point. The third sack of the game resulted in a loss of 10 and led to another missed field goal as Georgia was up 24-23 midway through the fourth quarter. Georgia responded with a nine-play, 70-yard TD drive in 5:09 for a 31-23 lead with 2:48 left in the contest. Georgia's five sacks today matched its season high also getting that in a win over USC. Senior Reggie Davis set a bowl record with five kickoff returns for 76 yards. The old mark was four KOR held by a trio of Bulldogs.
AutoZone Liberty Bowl MVP and MOPs: As voted on by the media today, Georgia's Most Outstanding Offensive Player of the bowl game was junior Sony Michel and for the Defense it was sophomore Trenton Thompson. Thompson was the overall AutoZone Liberty Bowl MVP too.
Bowl Streak: The Bulldogs made their 52nd overall and 20th consecutive appearance in a bowl game today. Georgia's bowl record is now 30-19-3. Currently, 30 bowl wins and 20 straight bowl outings rank third nationally. The Bulldogs are now 2-2 all-time in the Liberty Bowl. With today's 31-23 win over TCU, the Bulldog seniors cap their career with a 36-16 record including 3-1 in bowl games. The Bulldogs are 4-0 all-time versus the Horned Frogs.
Chubb Headlines Ground Game: Junior Nick Chubb moved up to second place all-time for career rushing yards by a Bulldog now with 3,424, trailing only the legendary Herschel Walker (5,259 yards in three years). Today, he had 142 yards on 17 carries to give him 1,130 yards for the season. It was his second 1,000-yard season and 19th game with at least 100 yards rushing.
Torrent Of Tackles For Smith: Sophomore Roquan Smith led the team and matched his career-high with 13 tackles today, and it was his 3rd game of 10+ tackles. He finished the year as Georgia's leading tackler with 95. He is the first sophomore to lead UGA in tackles since 2008 when Rennie Curran had 115.
A Look At the Offense Today: Georgia ran 65 plays for 412 yards. Freshman QB Jacob Eason was 12-for-21 for 164 yards and 2 TDs. After Georgia's ground attack was limited to 49 yards on 18 carries in the first half, the Bulldogs wound up with 248 yards on 44 carries. Juniors Nick Chubb (17-for-142 yards) and Sony Michel (15-for-87 yards) led the ground game. Junior Isaiah McKenzie had his third career game of at least 100 yards receiving today. He led the team with four catches for 103 yards. Also, he had three rushing yards and one punt return yard for 107 total yards. A career-long 77-yard pass by freshman QB Jacob Eason to McKenzie helped spark a five-play, 86-yard TD drive for a 7-0 lead over TCU with 9:32 in the first quarter. The 77-yarder was the longest passing play that did not result in a TD in Liberty Bowl history. Georgia's second TD of the day was a 33-yard completion from Eason to Michel.
For Starters: Senior SE Kenneth Towns made his second career start while sophomore ILB Natrez Patrick returned to his starting spot after missing the past three games due to injury. Junior Isaiah Wynn got the nod at left tackle after graduate Tyler Catalina had started 12 games this year. Wynn made 11 starts at left guard this year too.
Points Off Turnovers: Georgia is +8 in Turnover Margin for the year. The Bulldogs have forced 27 turnovers and turned them into 57 points. Opponents have scored 72 points off 19 Bulldogs miscues. Georgia got a fumble recovery with 30 seconds left in the first half as Aaron Davis recovered it at the UGA 48 after a sack and strip by Lorenzo Carter. It led to a missed field goal of 53 yards. TCU scored six points off one Georgia miscue. In the first quarter, Jacob Eason was sacked and fumbled on the play by TCU's Tipa Galeai who recovered it at the UGA 21. It led to a TD and a 9-7 advantage after a missed PAT. In the second half opening drive, junior Dominick Sanders recovered a fumble caused by Carter and it gave Georgia the football at the UGA 48. It led to a TD as Javon Wims caught a four-yarder from Eason and with the PAT it gave the Bulldogs a 21-16 edge with 7:08 left.
Last Time A Fake FG: Midway in the third quarter, Georgia executed a successful fake field goal as Brice Ramsey scampered for 11 yards on a 4th and 6 from the TCU 21 to extend a drive that eventually resulted in a go-ahead TD and 21-16 lead. Prior to that, Georgia's last successful fake field goal play was against Ga. Tech in 2014 when PK Marshall Morgan rushed 28 yards for a first down.
Captains: Graduate Maurice Smith, senior Brandon Kublanow and juniors Nick Chubb and Sony Michel were today's captains and voted the overall captains for the 2016 team.
