ESPN's Paul Finebaum Calls Out UGA Football After Tough Sugar Bowl Loss
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New Orleans, LA - There wasn’t a lot that went right for Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs on Thursday during their Sugar Bowl loss to Notre Dame.
The 2024 SEC Champions fought hard, but too many mistakes and the inability to run the football were just two reaons why Georgia came out on the losing end.
If we’re being honest, Kirby Smart made some questionable decisons that didn’t help their chances, either.
When Georgia was down 6-3 right before the half, Smart decided to be aggressive from their own 25-yard line with just 39 seconds left. Instead of miraculously marching down the field, Gunner Stockton was drilled from behind and lost the football. The Irish jumped on it, and a quick touchdown strike from Riley Leonard put them up 13-3 at the half.
Georgia’s aggressiveness came back to haunt them, and ESPN’s Paul Finebaum had a lot to say about it after the game.
“It was just a terrible call in every aspect and I think Kirby Smart admitted that at halftime”, Finebaum said on ESPN”s “Get Up” morning show. “It’s easy to say after the fact, but when you have a backup quarterback, you don’t put the game in his hands when you’re just three points behind.”
Finebaum went on to criticize Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo as well.
“Georgia fans won’t be blaming Kirby Smart, they’ll be blaming Mike Bobo. He came in and took over for Todd Monken, and quite frankly, nobody is happy with him. He’s Kirby Smart’s best friend. They were roomates, and many believe Kirby Smart has looked past reality and honored a friend who had previously failed as a head coach.”
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Those are strong words, but he’s not far off. It was the wrong decision to be aggressive, and it led to a seven-point swing in the ballgame.
Smart broke down the decision after the game.
“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-minute, and that's what everything says you should do. You can't give up possessions when you're trailing. So we're down 6-3. We feel like we had a little quick game pass. Certainly not counting on getting beat that quick at left tackle, and got a sack fumble, which gave them some momentum. At the end of the day, we got a great defense. We should stop them. We don't play passive here. We're playing to be aggressive and try and go score.”
As it turns out, running a two-minute offense in just 40 seconds is tough to pull off. Bad things can happen in a very short period of time, and that’s what happened in New Orleans.