Georgia’s Smart defends ‘aggressive’ playcalls that backfired in CFP loss

NEW ORLEANS — Locked in a defensive battle in which neither team gained 300 yards, Georgia coach Kirby Smart made an aggressive but fateful decision late in the first half of the College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

Just after Notre Dame took a 6-3 lead on a 48-yard field goal, Smart had untested sophomore quarterback Gunner Stockton drop back to punt from his 25-yard line with 38 seconds left instead of running out the clock. Defensive end RJ Oben broke through for a strip sack and the Fighting Irish’s Junior Tuihalamaka fell on the ball at the Bulldogs’ 13.

One play later, Notre Dame’s Riley Leonard hit Beaux Collins for a 13-yard touchdown.

Just like that, no. 2 Georgia trailed 13-3 in a game where every point was precious. The no. 7 The Fighting Irish won Thursday’s game 23-10, ending Smart’s bid for his third national title with the Bulldogs.

“Typically when you’re down you need every possession you can have and we made a decision that we were going to be aggressive and we were going to try to go two minutes and that’s what everything says you have to do,” Smart said. “You can’t give up possessions when you’re behind. We felt like we had a little quick-game pass. We certainly don’t expect to get beat that quickly at left tackle, and had a sack fumble that gave them some momentum.”

In fact, the Bulldogs had already lost momentum. Their previous possession lasted a full 31 seconds – the points count.

Taking over at its 14 with 3:40 left in the half, Stockton threw three consecutive incomplete passes — the last two while wriggling away from pressure — giving Notre Dame time to move into field goal range .

But Smart continued to rely on his struggling offense, even though Stockton had thrown just 35 career passes before replacing injured starter Carson Beck in the second half of the Bulldogs’ 22-19 overtime win against Texas in the SEC championship.

Although the move backfired, Smart defended his thought process.

“We have an opportunity to score,” he said. “We worked two minutes every week. I don’t question that call because I really agree with the decision to be aggressive.”

Stockton went 20-of-32 for 234 yards, including a perfect strike to Arian Smith for a 67-yard gain that set up a clear goal in the second quarter and a 32-yard touchdown pass to wide open running back Cash Jones that closed the deficit to 20-10 in the third.

However, the Bulldogs did very little outside of those plays, producing 62 yards rushing while Stockton was sacked four times.

“It just hurts,” guard Tate Ratledge said. “This team has one goal and that was to win a national championship.”

Georgia outgained Notre Dame 296-244, but went 0-of-3 on fourth downs and 2-of-12 on third downs, allowing a 98-yard kickoff return to open the second half.

Fighting Irish coach Marcus Freeman often outmaneuvered Smart. The last time came when Notre Dame rushed its punt team off the field and its offense back on while facing a fourth-and-1 at its own 18 with 7:17 left.

In the melee, Georgia linebacker Jalon Walker jumped offside, and the Fighting Irish didn’t punt until the two-minute mark.

“I’ve been told by our chief of staff at the SEC that you can’t do that, you can’t run 11 on, 11 off,” Smart said. “We got our defense out there. We were fine. They wanted to count us hard. We prepare for that, but we jumped offside.”