ATHENS — Let’s just call it the “Squib Kick That Wasn’t.”
Georgia coach Kirby Smart on Tuesday was asked again what exactly it was Peyton Woodring was trying to do at the start of the second half Saturday night in Austin. The Bulldogs led 23-0 and No. 1-ranked Texas had managed only 38 yards offense when it was due to receive the second-half kickoff.
Rather than kick them deep for another touchback as Woodring had done on his previous three kickoffs, Georgia in its halftime locker room decided to — well, do something other than that.
“We were not trying to do what we did,” Smart said Tuesday night.
Clearly, Georgia wanted to keep the football. It looked like Georgia was attempting to do what Smart’s good buddy Dan Lanning did with the Oregon Ducks the previous Saturday against Ohio State.
That is, the Oregon kicker boomed a low line drive right at a front-line player on the return team in an attempt to recover the ricocheted football. The Ducks executed that play to perfection against the Buckeyes, recovering the deflection to steal a first-half possession in what ended as a one-point victory.
Smart insists that’s not what the Bulldogs were trying.
“We know about the Oregon play,” he said. “That’s usually a tactic you use after a 15-yard penalty, in which the ball would be kicked off from the 50, therefore recovered on the 35, maybe 37. But that’s not what we’re trying to do at all.”
So, what were they trying to do?
Smart didn’t want to say because the Bulldogs might try it again.
“It was a failed attempt of something that we worked on,” Smart said. “It’s not worth elaborating on because we may play them again. So, I don’t really want to explain it.”
Smart has demonstrated in his nine seasons as Georgia’s coach a propensity to gamble, regardless of score and situation. That mentality mostly has served him well. On Saturday, Smart notched his 100th career victory in 117 games with the 30-15 win at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
Strategically, though, an onside-kick attempt Saturday seemed unnecessary. As it went, linebacker David Gbenda kept his eyes on Woodring and easily fielded the squibbed kick at the Texas 45-yard line. The Longhorns’ sideline celebrated.
Quarterback Quinn Ewers had played so poorly in the first half he was benched for the last three offensive possessions. But gifted with excellent field position, the Longhorns were able scored in only eight plays, successfully converted a two-pointer and a comeback was initiated. Texas would turn it into a one-possession game before the third quarter ended.
Smart has had some bold moves backfire. In 2019, the Bulldogs trailed LSU 3-0 in the first quarter when Rodrigo Blankenship lined up for a 31-yard field goal. Instead of tying the game on the road, Blankenship’s run around right end was dropped for a 2-yard loss, which ignited the Tiger Stadium crowd and sent LSU what ended as a run of five consecutive scores.
Smart’s most infamous special-teams ploy came in the 2018 SEC Championship game against Alabama. The score was tied at 28-28 and Georgia was lined up to punt on fourth-and-11 and at the 50 with just over three minutes remaining. Rather than punt the Crimson Tide deep, Smart inserted freshman quarterback Justin Fields as the upback and ran a fake punt with him around left end. But Alabama immediately noticed Fields had entered the game and tackled him for a 2-yard gain.
Fields talked about that play in an interview on the “Pardon My Take” podcast just last year.
“I was this close to asking him, ‘Coach, are you sure you want to do this?’” Fields said. “And right when I got on the field all the Alabama players are pointing at me. ‘Hey, hey, hey. It’s a fake, it’s a fake, it’s a fake.’ They knew it was a fake. I’ve never been out there on punt. The first time in my life I have been out there in a punt formation.”
The flipside of Saturday’s decision to attempt an onside kick is Smart certainly had every reason to be confident in Georgia’s defense. Meanwhile, had the play was successful, the Bulldogs may have turned the game into more of a rout than it ended up being.
As for what Georgia actually was trying to execute, it’s hard to tell. The Longhorns returned Woodring’s first kickoff 64 yards to the Bulldogs’ 36-yard line. But the play was nullified because of a holding penalty at the 18-yard line, which backed up the Longhorns to their own 8.
Woodring’s other three first-half kickoffs were touchbacks. For the season, 22 of Woodring’s 44 kickoffs have resulted in touchbacks. Opponents are averaging only 17.5 yards per return.
Clearly, the percentage play there is a standard kickoff. But Smart likes to keep his opponents guessing. And he has recorded more success than failures when it comes to special-teams fakes.
In 2019, punter/holder Jake Camarda ran for 6 yards and a first down on a fake field-goal attempt against Baylor in the Sugar Bowl. Stetson Bennett did the same thing as a holder for Jack Podlesny on a fake field-goal attempt on the road against Missouri in 2022.
“We want to be aggressive,” Smart said in 2019 of his penchant for special-teams trickery. “If it doesn’t work, it’s a bad call; I’m the first to admit that.”
One of Georgia’s keys to success during this incredible run of success is dominating special-teams play. The Bulldogs have won 45 of its past 46 games, including 31 of its past 32 SEC regular-season games. Overall, the Bulldogs are 52-3 in their past 55 games.
Against Texas, there was no indication Georgia was about to try something. With Nitro Tuggle and Cole Speer flanking him, Woodring approached the kicking tee slightly slower than usual. He struck the football high, and it shot straight across the ground directly into the Longhorns’ front line.
ABC announcer Chris Fowler said, “Georgia tried a little squib quick, maybe trying to steal a possession.”
Indeed they were, but not via a squib.
“That was not the planned kick. It was unfortunate. Peyton missed the ball a little bit, (but) we weren’t trying to squib that,” Smart said after the game.
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