At one point in the first half, Georgia defender Jalen Carter picked up Jayden Daniels off the ground and held up the No. 1. And that was an apt description of this game in one image: LSU got manhandled.
Daniels left at halftime with an injury and despite putting up improved offense in the second half with backup Garrett Nussmeier, the top-ranked Bulldogs cruised to a 50-30 win and an SEC Championship victory.
With all that in mind, here are my three quick takeaways after a painful weekend out in Atlanta.
GEORGIA IS THE NEW ALABAMA
Now, don't get me wrong: Alabama is still Alabama, too. But there's a feeling that went along with playing the Crimson Tide for much of the past decade, and that feeling now belongs to the Bulldogs.
It's the feeling that the only way to come out with a win against them is to play an absolutely perfect game. No mistakes. No bad penalties. No missed opportunities. And even then it might not be enough, because you also have to hope for something less than their A game.
It's a helpless feeling, and it's the exact anvil that was dropped on LSU's head after a start to the game that can only be described as: Not that bad. The issue is, it wasn't perfect.
The Tigers forced a three-and-out on Georgia's opening possession. They drive the field on the ensuing possession before having to settle for a field goal. That's when the unthinkable happened. Not only was the FG attempt blocked, all 11 members of LSU's offense appeared to forget that a blocked FG is a live ball and began to walk off dejected. But Bulldogs cornerback Christopher Smith knew exactly what he was doing, plucking the ball from the turf and running untouched for 96 yards and a score with only freshman TE Mason Taylor making a real attempt at a tackle.
Instead of a 3-0 lead or 0-0 tie, the No. 1 team in the country was pinned to a 7-0 lead before they even registered a first down. Remember that perfect game we were talking about above? That went out the window early. The Tigers doubled down on the mistakes on the first play of the second quarter trailing 14-7. Jayden Daniels put up a 50-50 ball to Jack Bech, with the ball appearing to be knocked harmlessly to the turf. But wait, did it bounce off the back of Bech's helmet and land in a Georgia defender's hands? Yep, that's exactly what happened.
Georgia scored on the next play from 22 yards out, led 21-7 and it was all over from there. It'd be tough to beat any SEC opponent with those types of miscues. When they come against Georgia, you'll be lucky to keep it within 20.
In LSU's defense, they kept fighting. The game was over once they allowed a 35-point first half that tied, you guessed it, Alabama (2020) for the most first-half points in SEC Championship history.
LSU is still an ascending program, even if they're a few steps ahead of where they probably should've been this season. Georgia is already there. The Tigers got outclassed, plain and simple.
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JAYDEN DANIELS BATTLED
When LSU's quarterback went down twice late in the loss to Texas A&M in clear pain, I had a feeling he'd be at something less than 100% just 7 days later. He avoided a high-ankle sprain, but low-ankle sprains are no walk in the park.
He had a good week in practice and he gave it a go, but it became clear midway through the second quarter that one of his elite weapons wasn't there. He couldn't run, at least not anywhere near the level that has made him one of the SEC's most dangerous QBs throughout the 2022 season.
His mobility got progressively worse throughout the first half, and he left the game for a third-and-long snap on LSU's penultimate drive of the half. Garrett Nussmeier took over and threw incomplete, but Daniels returned to lead the Tigers into field goal range before the break. It was clear he could barely move. Sitting him down in the second half was the right decision.
It was a similar picture to what occurred with USC's Caleb Daniels in the Pac-12 Championship on Friday. He wouldn't allow himself to be pulled from the game, even as he struggled and his team fell to Utah. I imagine Daniels did his best to lobby to stay in this one. One way or the other, head coach Brian Kelly made the right call getting him out of harm's way in what was developing into a blowout.
The kid's career isn't ending today. He'll want to be on the field in whatever bowl game the Tigers land in. It seems unlikely he goes pro, and he could very well be the man under center leading the show in Year 2 of the Brian Kelly era. Hero ball isn't what this season was built on, and the healthy, safe decision was made. His final stat line was 16-24 for 208 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT.
It also gave Nussmeier a chance to show off his gunslinger ways, and he helped create some offense to trim the massive deficit to a much more respectable one. Yes, the gunslinger rumors were true. The kid truly will throw it anywhere at any time. If the Tigers' defense had a bit more left in the tank, maybe he leads a wild comeback. But not in this one.
Regardless of what happens from here, Jayden's season was fantastic. It's a bummer it ended the way it did.
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THE SPECIAL TEAMS NIGHTMARE NEVER REALLY ENDED
LSU's season started with two muffed punts and a blocked PAT in a painful loss to Florida State. Things got a bit better from there, but they were never good in the special teams department.
The momentum in this game swung on a missed chip shot field goal. It swung even more when it seemed like LSU's players didn't know the rules for what happens when a ball is blocked in play.
There was a play earlier in the game where Greg Clayton, who admittedly has helped greatly stabilize the Tigers' return game, opted not to signal for a fair catch and was instead blown up just as he received the ball. He managed to hang on, but it was flirting with disaster for no real reason.
All this is to say, Year 1 of the Brian Kelly era was a resounding success in so many areas. Special teams was not one of them. mistakes happen, you fix them and move on. Not understanding the rules and situation is unacceptable, and that falls on coaching.
Brian Polian is a Brian Kelly guy. He followed Kelly from Notre Dame to lead the Tigers' special teams units this season. Is it time to consider a change? Do you ride it out and expect different results? That's going to be a question that has to be answered this offseason. Special teams can only win you games if it doesn't lose you games.
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LAGNIAPPE
Georgia's blocked field goal return TD was just the second in SEC Championship history. The other was also Georgia (vs Alabama in 2012), with the Bulldogs losing that game 32-28. ... LSU had a chance to steal some major momentum midway through the third quarter. They were down 18 and could've kicked a field goal to cut what was once a 35-7 deficit to 15, AKA just two scores. But they were drawn in by a 4th and short and opted against the field goal. Of course they didn't convert (it wasn't a bad idea to go for it, for what it's worth). Georgia drove the field and scored on the next possession, a touchdown that really felt like the end of LSU's mega-slim chances for a comeback. ... Garrett "Gunslinger" Nussmeier is definitely that. I don't know if he's got the consistency to be a high-level starting QB, but he's got no fear. He finished the game 15-27 for 294 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT and 1 fumble. ... Georgia went for a 2-point conversion while leading by 25 points early in the fourth quarter. For why? That's a good question. I suppose at a certain stage, a team taking free points is even more insulting. ... Georgia's 50 points scored in this game were the 5th most in SEC Championship history. Their 35 points in the first half tied the record for first-half scoring set by Alabama in the 2020 season. ... LSU didn't record a sack in the game against Georgia QB Stetson Bennett despite pressuring him in the pocket often. ... The Tigers' QBs (split between Nussmeier and Daniels) threw for 502 yards, breaking the previous SEC Championship record for passing yards in a game (2021 by Alabama).