Georgia's Kirby Smart blasts refs for allowing Notre Dame's tricky substitution ploy
01/03/2025 01:09 PM
The questions swirling around Georgia entering its College Football Playoff matchup against Notre Dame turned into concrete, bitter answers on Thursday. An inconsistent offensive line stumbled at crucial moments and the defense could not stop the run, as head coach Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs saw their season meet its end in a 23-10 Sugar Bowl loss.
The Fighting Irish won the battle at the line of scrimmage, and one of the most discussed moments of the game only underscores that fact. HC Marcus Freeman implemented some trickery that effectively punched his team’s ticket to the Orange Bowl.
Facing fourth-and-1 on its own 18-yard line with 7:17 remaining on the clock, Notre Dame lined up to punt. Then, in a display that highlights Freeman’s ingenuity, the special teams unit raced to the sidelines and subbed out for the offense, via Jomboy Media. Georgia followed suit but ultimately took the bait and incurred a back-breaking offside penalty. The drive continued for more than five minutes. Smart was not pleased.
The two-time national champion explained his issue with the play, citing his past history with referees as the grounds for his disapproval.
“It’s really unfortunate because I’ve been told by our head officials in the SEC you can’t do that… you can’t run 11 on and 11 off,” per the Fox College Football X account. ” We did it in 2017 against Tennessee, we’ve carried that, we’ve practiced that because teams tried to do it, and we were told by officials you should not do that.”
Notre Dame might have just sealed the victory by confusing the Georgia defense pic.twitter.com/WJUEcy88zj
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) January 3, 2025
Georgia football dug themselves too deep of a hole
Some fans will accuse the nine-year head coach of sour grapes, but he owned the loss and gave his opponent its just due. If Smart is indeed accurate in his recounting of SEC officiating, then his frustration might be justified. A clear set of rules must be enforced. The stakes are too high for possible misinterpretations of rules to play a factor. That is not what transpired in the Caesars Superdome, though.
Notre Dame wore down Georgia football, relying on its ferocious defense and special teams prowess to conquer the SEC champions. But the Bulldogs certainly did their part to accentuate those strengths. Smart’s decision to be aggressive with a little over 30 seconds left in the first half led to an RJ Oben strip sack, which Junior Tuihalamaka returned for a fumble recovery touchdown. Jayden Harrison then stunned Georgia with a 98-yard kickoff return score to begin the third quarter. Just like that, Smart’s squad was staring at a 20-3 deficit.
Backup quarterback Gunner Stockton’s solid outing (20-of-32 for 234 yards and one touchdown) should ease fans’ disappointment a bit, since the future should still be quite bright in Athens, but this was a wake-up call for the Dawgs. Kirby Smart will surely not forget the Sugar Bowl outcome, or the cunning tactic Freeman utilized in the fourth quarter. He has some time to stew on everything and draw motivation for next season.
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