Kirby Smart cost Georgia the SEC, Playoff berth with costly fake punt

You have to take risks to beat Alabama in a big game, but Kirby Smart’s foolish call for a fake punt cost Georgia their shot to upset the Crimson Tide.

Kirby Smart deserves a lot of credit for getting Georgia to the SEC Championship game, but Mercedes-Benz Stadium may forever be known as his personal house or horrors. His decision to call a fake punt late in the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s clash against Alabama will be criticized for a long time.

The storybook return of Jalen Hurts will be what Alabama fans always remember, but Georgia supporters will always point to the fake punt as the play that cost them the game. With three minutes to go in the game the prudent play would have been to try to pin Alabama deep with a punt. Instead, Smart tried to outsmart Nick Saban by running Justin Fields up the middle.

It didn’t work and it gave Alabama the momentum needed to get the game-winning score on the ensuing possession. The decision cost Georgia the SEC Championship and a spot in the College Football Playoff. Millions of dollars for the program were lost on top of losing the game.

The biggest problem with the play call is that Alabama saw it coming a mile away. The Tide didn’t even bother to put their punt return unit out onto the field. Georgia ran their fake punt against something closely resembling Saban’s base defense.

You should also brace yourself for a ton of puns about how Smart is not well….smart.

Some Georgia fans actually want Smart fired for his incredibly poor decision. Obviously that isn’t going to happen, but it’s safe to say his honeymoon in Athens is over. There will be a lot of scrutiny on his coaching in big games moving forward.

Georgia might not have won this football game if they would have made the safe move and punted the football, but that’s certainly going to be the narrative that a vocal portion of the ‘Dawgs fan base will be pushing in the aftermath of this crushing defeat.

Smart is going to have a lot of work to do if he wants to overcome this massive error on the national stage.