The Ohio State Buckeyes are bringing the fight to the reigning national champions Georgia Bulldogs, as they took a four-point lead into halftime in the Peach Bowl, thanks to CJ Stroud's fantastic game management late in the second quarter that had Los Angeles Lakers superstar and big-time Ohio State football fan LeBron James all hyped up.
“Beautiful textbook drive CJ!!! TD,” James tweeted Saturday.
With Georgia snatching the lead following a field goal with a little under two minutes remaining in the first half, Ohio State football quarterback CJ Stroud went down to work again and engineered a four-play drive that was capped by a sensational 37-yard touchdown catch by senior wide receiver Xavier Johnson to get the lead back.
Stroud boosted his NFL Draft stock with his impressive play in the first half against a stout Georgia defense which had only allowed 28 or more points in a game just once this season. In the first half alone, Stroud racked up 238 passing yards and three touchdowns with zero interceptions on 15-of-19 completions for Ohio State football. His other two touchdown passes were caught by wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. who also drew reactions from LeBron James.
Ohio State football is punishing Georgia with deep passes, with the Buckeyes having so much success with Stroud connecting with receivers for huge gains. At the end of the first half, Ohio State football posted an average of 12.5 yards per pass completion, and it's doing heavy damage against a normally sturdy Georgia stop unit that finished the regular season fourth in the nation win scoring defense.