The ariplane carrying the TCU Horned Frogs football team taxies at LAX (Jevone Moore/L.A. Sentinel)
The University of Georgia Bulldogs and the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs football teams touched down in Los Angeles Friday afternoon ahead of the CFP National Championship. The title match will take place at SoFi Stadium on January 9 at 5:15 P.M.
“We still have a couple of days to get prepared,” said Georgia head coach Kirby Smart. “We’ll go through our normal process of preparing for a game which we’ve done 14 times now.”
Georgia football team arriving at LAX for the #NationalChampionship #CFBPlayoff pic.twitter.com/lV2H85sbcn
— Amanda Scurlock (@Amandtastic) January 7, 2023
The defending champion Bulldogs have a 14-0 overall record looking to be the first team to win back-to-back national titles. The Bulldogs battled only two nationally ranked teams, Oregon and Tennessee, during the season
Georgia Bulldogs football team comes of the plane (Amanda Scurlock/L.A. Sentinel)
Georgia also has a 4-0 record over TCU, their most previous matchup was the 2016 Liberty Bowl where the Bulldogs won 31-23. Georgia could also become the third FBS team in the modern era to have an undefeated season and a national title.
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Smart noted how his players deserved the credit for putting the program in the position to possibly make history.
“It’s really not about me, it’s about our organization, our university,” Smart said. “That doesn’t come with a lot of hard work … one of the hardest things to do in all of sports is finish and we got an opportunity to finish up a really good season on Monday night.”
TCU head coach Sonny Dykes (Jevone Moore/L.A. Sentinel)
With their 13-1 overall record, TCU is the first Texas team to compete in the CFP and reach the National Championship. If they win on Monday, this would be their first championship since 1938.
“You got to credit our players, they’ve been really mature all year long in their approach in what they’ve done to prepare and get themselves ready to go out and play their best football,” said TCU head coach Sonny Dykes. “So it’s kinda business as usual for us.”
The Frogs battled five nationally ranked teams during their season, including Kansas and Oklahoma State. The team has made major improvements since their 5-7 run last season. Bowl games are not as familiar to TCU as they are to Georgia.
TCU player poses in front of the National Championship logo (Amanda Scurlock/L.A. Sentinel)
“I’ve got four players on our team right now that have played in a bowl game,” Dykes said. “But they’ve handled it with a ton of maturity and focus.”
TCU has touched down at LAX ahead of the CFP National Championship #CFBPlayoff @thelasentinel pic.twitter.com/k1hJEvkqpP
— Amanda Scurlock (@Amandtastic) January 6, 2023
Both the Bulldogs and the Horned Frogs battled nationally ranked teams in their conference championship game. Georgia battled LSU where Bulldogs senior quarterback Stetson Bennett made four touchdown passes to commit a 50-30 victory.
TCU battled Kansas State where they received their first loss 28-31 in overtime. Frogs Rushers Max Duggan and Kendre Miller scored a touchdown each in the matchup.
Georgia defeated Ohio State 42-41 in the Peach Bowl to return to the national title and TCU punched its ticket after it defeated Michigan 51-45 in the Fiesta Bowl.
