Kirby Smart gave an explanation for why Georgia’s fourth-quarter fourth-down conversion attempt in its own territory went so horribly wrong in the Sugar Bowl against Ole Miss.
The ball wasn’t supposed to be snapped.
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With just under 10 minutes to go and Ole Miss leading 27-24, Georgia put its punt team on the field on fourth down at its own 32-yard line. But the offense ran back out onto the field and QB Gunner Stockton lined up in the shotgun. As Stockton took the snap, not every member of the offensive line moved in unison.
That allowed Ole Miss edge rusher Suntarine Perkins to come off the edge untouched and he sacked Stockton while also recovering a fumble.
“We screwed that up a little bit,” Smart said in his postgame news conference. “We had a misfire. It was a changeup from a look we had done twice and we knew teams were going to sit back and not honor us because we had not snapped it on those plays in two different locations, two different times. And the ball was not supposed to be snapped in that situation. But that was on us as coaches, that was on me and our guys, it’s not on the players. And Gunner and those guys did a nice job executing it.
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“We did feel like we had lost momentum at that point and the book says we need to go for it. Theree’s probably another way I’d like to have gone for it but we did not execute the situation really well there. It’s a situation where it gave us an either or, we didn’t have to snap it. We can take a delay, sit back and see what happens just to to take a chance.”
Ole Miss scored a touchdown two plays later when QB Trinidad Chambliss found Harrison Wallace III in the end zone to extend the lead to 10 points.
Georgia never led the rest of the way in its 37-34 quarterfinal defeat.
The Bulldogs were up 21-12 at halftime but Chambliss took the game over in the second half in one of the best playoff performances in recent memory. He finished 30-of-46 passing for 362 yards and two touchdowns.
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The win puts Ole Miss in the Fiesta Bowl against Miami and avenged Georgia’s regular-season win over the Rebels.
“It was a back-and-forth game, incredible college football game,” Smart said. “It’s what the CFP was built for. To have battles like that. And that was basically every conference game we had this year. I felt like every game was like that one. Back, forth, back, forth. Plays being made all over and a lot of credit goes to Ole Miss. The defensive improvements they made. They played much better and tougher and more physical on defense. Created some problems for us and their quarterback is just incredible.”
