ATHENS — Two of Georgia’s more prominent offseason hires were analysts John Lilly and Phil Rauscher.
Before coming to Athens, they were working in the NFL. Lilly, a quality-control coordinator and former Georgia tight ends coach, worked for the Carolina Panthers last season. Rauscher, who helps with the offensive line, was with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Rausher and Lilly see Georgia’s contests looking more and more like the ones played in the NFL when it comes to game management.
“They say it’s every week in the NFL,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “The SEC is becoming — I’m not talking about the NFL in terms of talent. I’m talking about the way the games go. The clock management — I mean, Lane (Kiffin)’s the best in the country to me. He always has his three timeouts. He always can get an extra possession. He managed the clock beautifully.”
Clock management, fourth-down calls, red-zone success and special-teams execution all are amplified with games being tighter than ever. Georgia already has played three one-possession games, while the win over Auburn got to double digits thanks to a late touchdown by Gunner Stockton.
With Georgia no longer possessing the talent edge it once did, because of the transfer portal, more of the game falls on the shoulders of Smart.
Games can be won or lost if he doesn’t nail a fourth-down call or mismanages the clock at the end of the half.
“I firmly believe that you get better at those things before you experience them,” Smart said. “There’s no game simulator we can put people in and they come out four hours later and they’re five years advanced. It’s time invested. It’s self-analysis, self-quality control, which we do a lot of. Those things make you better.”
At the end of the first half, Georgia wanted to bleed the clock so as not to give Ole Miss an extra possession. But it came at the expense of pushing for a touchdown, as Georgia settled for three points.
Ole Miss got the ball to start the second half and scored on its second offensive play. Georgia lost the middle eight — the closing four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half — by a 14-3 margin.
Smart made up for the deficit in the second half, in part by eliminating extra possessions for Ole Miss. With the Georgia defense struggling, Georgia’s offense dominated time of possession — 37:39 to 22:21 — in an effort to keep its defense off the field.
“I know that that’s a strategy, that’s a strategy you can use,” offensive tackle Monroe Freeling said. “Being an offensive lineman, just running the ball and just slowly taking the chops of your opponent, keep chopping. I think it’s a great thing for our offensive line. I think everyone on our offensive line loves to do it.”
Trailing 35-26 with 1:03 to go in the third quarter, Georgia faced a fourth-and-1 from its 44-yard line. Perhaps a younger and more conservative Smart would’ve punted.
Instead, Smart kept his offense out on the field and had running back Josh McCray plow ahead for the yard Georgia needed.
The Bulldogs ended up scoring a touchdown on the drive, as opposed to leaving Ole Miss with a short field and the chance to extend its lead.
Georgia had 27 fourth-down attempts last season. The previous high came in 2022, when Georgia attempted 15. Through seven games this season, the Bulldogs have gone for it 11 times on fourth down, converting eight of the attempts.
But Georgia doesn’t simply go for every fourth down, even with a high conversion rate.
The Bulldogs led 40-35 and faced a fourth-and-3 with 2:08 remaining. Georgia could’ve iced the game with a conversion, as opposed to kicking a field goal and giving Ole Miss the attempt to tie the score with a touchdown and 2-point conversion.
Smart opted for a field goal. It gave Georgia an 8-point lead, meaning the Bulldogs at worse would go to overtime.
“I was sitting there, I was like, ‘Come on, let’s go for it!’ And then I was like, ‘Well, we’ll be up eight points. Worst thing we can do is go into overtime,’” Freeling said. “When we have that trust from our coach, it gives us all the confidence in the world knowing that if he wants us to win the game, we can go out there and win the game.”
Peyton Woodring converted with 2:06 on the clock. Smart then had Woodring attempt a squib kick in an effort to steal a timeout from Ole Miss.
Woodring, who had two kickoffs land out of bounds, executed the kick perfectly as he pinned Ole Miss at the 23-yard line with two minutes left on the clock.
Georgia’s defense eventually got a fourth-down stop, and the Bulldogs were able to kneel to run out the clock, as Smart managed the fourth quarter to perfection.
“I was walking around thinking about what I was going to do,” Smart said. “I knew what I was going to do. It’s like the old me would have been, you know, running up and down the field. And it does you no good. It’s just make good decisions in intense moments. And make quick decisions. Live with them and go with it.”
The Ole Miss game was a thrilling win for Smart and Georgia, as the Bulldogs outscored the Rebels 17-0 in the fourth quarter.
It won’t be the last time this season Georgia finds itself in a close game, needing to nail the little details to pull out a win. Since the start of the 2024 season, Georgia now has played seven one-possession games.
From 2021 to 2023, Georgia played only six such contests.
“I know it’s going to be hard on my heart if it continues because we had a run here where we didn’t have as many of those, and now it seems like every week,” Smart said.
Correction
This story has been updated to correct the quarter during which Georgia faced a fourth-and-1 from its 44-yard line.
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