This year’s Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl will feature the ninth-ranked Georgia Bulldogs and the eighth-ranked Cincinnati Bearcats. It will be a noon kickoff on New Year’s Day at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA.
The Bulldogs come into this game with two losses and somewhat of a disappointing season. Early in the season, the Bulldogs had quarterback trouble. Jamie Newman, transfer from Vanderbilt, opted out of the season due to Covid concerns. D’wan Mathis, the redshirt freshman, started at quarterback in the first game of the season against Arkansas and was benched at halftime.
Then Stetson Bennet took over for the Bulldogs. He started five of the nine games for the Bulldogs. Bennett struggled to be consistently accurate, missed some big key plays that changed the game, and had turnover issues. Bennett was benched for J.T Daniels during Georgia’s bye week.
Daniels was probably Georgia’s plan, to begin with, after Newman opted out, but he wasn’t physically ready at the beginning of the season as they hoped. In just three games, Daniels has thrown for 839 yards with nine touchdowns and only one interception. Daniels also has a team-high 66.7 completion percentage.
On the Bearcats side of things, they have been clicking on all cylinders this season. Their offense comes into the game averaging 39 points per game with a strong rushing attack that averages 225 yards rushing per game. Their rushing attack is led by senior running back Gerrid Doaks. Doaks has 673 yards rushing and seven rushing touchdowns.
Bearcats’ junior quarterback Desmond Ridder will also contribute in the rushing game. Ridder comes in the game with 2,090 yards passing, 609 yards rushing, and a total of 29 touchdowns on the season. This is Ridder’s third straight season of passing for at least 2,000 yards and rushing for at least 600 yards.
Both defenses will have their hands full stopping each other’s offenses. Georgia has found new life and the ability to push the ball down the field with J.T Daniels at quarterback for the last three games and, of course, their ability to run the ball all season long with Zamir White and James Cook. Bearcats’ has one of the better dual-threat quarterbacks in the country with Desmond Ridder.
The Bearcats will look to do what their conference foes Central Florida did in 2017 and finish the season undefeated and a Peach Bowl victory. The game looks much like the 2018 game as well. Like Georgia, Auburn comes into the game with two losses and felt their season was a little disappointing not reaching the College Football Playoffs. Like then Central Florida, Cincinnati comes into the game undefeated and feels slightly slighted by the playoff committee, so they want to prove a point.
