The Playbook: Michigan State wins the Peach Bowl and Michigan falls to Georgia
PHOTO Bree Soule
January 21, 2022
The 2021 college football season has ended for colleges, and both Michigan and Michigan State had very successful seasons compared to prior ones.
Michigan State headed to the Peach Bowl and beat the Pittsburgh Panthers 31–21 at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. Winning percentages were about an even 50–50 split with Michigan State securing the Peach Bowl Championship title by a pick-six in the 4th quarter. Michigan State was also missing their runningback Kenneth Walker who has done so much work for them in the past— especially in the Michigan-Michigan State game. So instead, Jordan Simmons stepped up to the plate and only got 23 rushing yards.
The game consisted of many passing plays for both offenses with Pittburg’s quarterback Davis Beville throwing 149 yards and Michigan State’s quarterback Payton Thorn throwing 354 yards.
As for Michigan, their season didn’t end so well. Going into this season fans of Michigan and college football all around didn’t expect too much from Michigan. However, beating the two percent odds of making it to the playoffs, Michigan faced off against Georgia in the semifinals. The game did not go according to plan with the final score being 34–11.
As for the championship game, Georgia faced off against Alabama, the defending champs.
An unstoppable offense (Alabama) against an unstoppable defense (Georgia) resulted in a 33–18 win for Georgia. Alabama wasn’t quite as good as they were last year and just couldn’t seem to penetrate the defense enough to score more than two touchdowns. The first half of the game only consisted of field goals leaving the score 9–6 at the end of the first half. Georgia kicked off the scoring party first towards the very end of the third with about a minute left. Zamir White had a one-yard rush to get there. In the 4th, Alabama answered with a field goal and a touchdown to make the score 18–13.
Whenever Georgia had possession of the ball their reputation for an unbreakable defense was somewhat hard to see considering the multiple time’s quarterback Stetson Bennett had gotten sacked. On the contrary, Alabama’s quarterback Bryce Young was sacked a total of four times giving Georgia their reputation back.
For the duration of the fourth quarter, Georgia would go on a scoring run riding off the highs of Alabama’s mistake (dropping a touchdown pass and throwing a pick-six with 50 seconds left). One of the touchdowns thrown by Stetson Bennett in the fourth was a 50-yard bomb straight to wide receiver Adonai Mitchell. The pick-six that Bryce Young threw at the end of the fourth was the nail in the coffin for the hopes and dreams of Alabama winning two titles in a row leaving the score 33–18.
As for the Heisman Trophy winner that would be Alabama’s quarterback Bryce Young. Finalists included Aiden Hutchinson from Michigan, Kenny Pickett from Pittsburg, C.J. Stroud from Ohio State and, of course, Bryce Young. With the championship, the bowls being complete, and the Heisman chosen, the 2021-22 college football season comes to an end.
