....and shows once again he knows not one damned thing about football.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...ia-notre-dame-kirby-smart-offense/2409648001/
I want to pick out a couple of points here.
To say it plainly, Georgia very nearly gagged away a game it should have strangled the life out of, a game that had no business being in doubt in the final two minutes when Notre Dame got the ball back near midfield with two minutes left. And it almost happened for the same reason Georgia has fallen short against Alabama in the biggest moments the last two years: Instead of landing the knockout punch, the Bulldogs try to sit on the lead and win it with their defense.
OK, I'm gonna assume that Dan maybe had a hot date with a coed or something and didn't see Kirby Smart GO FOR IT on 4th and 11 with a FAKE PUNT in the SEC title game last December. I'll be bringing that up again.
Smart’s conservative playbook with the lead also included the decision to kick a 43-yard field goal on fourth-and-1 with 6:54 remaining rather than leaning on one of the nation’s best offensive lines and Swift, who runs violently and submits to tacklers infrequently, to get one measly yard.
Smart decided to kick a field goal because:
a) he may have the best FG kicker in the country right now
b) it means Notre Dame has to score TWO TOUCHDOWNS and make BOTH PATs in order to win the game
The field goal put Georgia up 23-10, and the thinking was that it would take two Notre Dame touchdowns from that point to beat them. Of course, even if Georgia had gone for the fourth down there and failed, the same math would have applied.
Actually, the same math would NOT have applied, Dan. If the score is 23-23, there is immense pressure on a college kicker to win the game. Plus, suppose (for the sake of argument) that UGA had two screw-ups (it wouldn't be the first time even under Kirby) and the Irish scored two TDs with time left. There's a HUGE difference for what your team has to do when trailing by one and trailing by four, especially when you've got (as I said earlier) perhaps the best FG kicker in the country, certainly a guy capable of 50-yard bombs to win the game if necessary.
College Football Playoff championship game two years ago: Georgia takes a 20-10 lead over Alabama into the fourth quarter, takes the ball out of Fromm’s hands to try to run the clock, loses.
After the score was 20-10 UGA, Georgia ran 13 runs and 8 pass plays, admittedly heavily towards the run.
How good was Fromm? He was 1 for 5 for 13 yards and two sacks for -21 yards, and he got a yard rushing.
UGA didn't pass because Alabama wouldn't let them pass.
And btw Dan - on the last offensive play that UGA ran before Alabama scored to make it 20-10......with the score 20-7......Fromm dropped back to pass and (wait for it) THREW AN INTERCEPTION!!!!
Kirby didn't get conservative in the national title game, he was facing a helluva defense.
SEC championship game last season: Georgia takes a 28-14 lead over Alabama in the third quarter, starts playing not to lose, gets predictable on offense, loses.
Again, Dan, I hope you were with some frisky coed or some other acceptable excuse as to why you apparently did not watch the damned ballgame upon which you're commenting.
Georgia led, 28-14. They then drove 62 yards in 6 plays - one of them a 55-yard pass play, Dan - and then Blankenship missed what for him should be a chip shot field goal, a score that would have made it 31-14, UGA.
Better yet, in the next series UGA intercepted Tua. Kirby didn't get conservative - he was at HIS OWN THREE-YARD LINE. So he called three runs and punted on 4th and one from his own 12 (Dan probably thinks Kirby should have gone for it).
After Tua got a quick score, UGA got the ball back and here's the play sequence:
Fromm rush for 3
Fromm pass to Ridley for 11 (first down)
Holyfield run for no gain
Fromm rush for 8 yards
3rd and 2 play - Fromm tries to (wait for it) PASS.....incomplete
But I'm not done even yet.
On the next series, Alabama was held to 3 and out, UGA got the ball and here's the play sequence:
Fromm pass for 7 yards on first down
Stanley rush for 12 yards (first down UGA)
Fromm pass incomplete
Fromm pass to Ridley for 6 (3rd and 4)
Fromm incomplete pass
UGA ran more PASSES when up by 7 than they did runs, Dan.
UGA ran more PASSES when up by 14 points (11-7) than they did runs, Dan.
And those numbers are skewed by the fact that three of the 7 runs were inside their own ten-yard line. (Two of Fromm's runs were actually pass plays where he escaped, so they're actually pass plays).
And after all that, Dan, Kirby Smart called the most boneheaded play in SEC title game history when he did NOT go conservative but instead called a fake punt at midfield on 4th and 11.
DID YOU NOT WATCH THE GAME, DAN?????
The fact the Fighting Irish even had a chance to do it in the first place should raise some questions about whether Smart wants to change or if he will keep on doing the same thing when it’s tight.
Except, you're full of crap, Dan, because he didn't do the same thing. Kirby Smart has plenty of flaws as a head coach, and Alabama fans will never cease pointing them out. But in reality, Smart didn't do anything wrong in any of these games except for the one play that WAS NOT conservative. His offense couldn't do jack the entire second half of the NCG - their one score came on a fluke where the receiver was probably out of bounds and they got 80 yards in one play.
The thing Dan doesn't seem capable of admitting is the reality that in neither of the last two years was UGA the better team than Alabama. If Tua starts the NCG, it's not even a contest.
Their coach lacking the courage to go win the game when it’s there for the taking may well be the biggest obstacle in their path.
Except he DID win the game you're citing, numb nuts.
=================
THIS is what drives me bonkers about commentators. They have a narrative and then they make appeals to that narrative that contradict it and yet get paid for it.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...ia-notre-dame-kirby-smart-offense/2409648001/
I want to pick out a couple of points here.
To say it plainly, Georgia very nearly gagged away a game it should have strangled the life out of, a game that had no business being in doubt in the final two minutes when Notre Dame got the ball back near midfield with two minutes left. And it almost happened for the same reason Georgia has fallen short against Alabama in the biggest moments the last two years: Instead of landing the knockout punch, the Bulldogs try to sit on the lead and win it with their defense.
OK, I'm gonna assume that Dan maybe had a hot date with a coed or something and didn't see Kirby Smart GO FOR IT on 4th and 11 with a FAKE PUNT in the SEC title game last December. I'll be bringing that up again.
Smart’s conservative playbook with the lead also included the decision to kick a 43-yard field goal on fourth-and-1 with 6:54 remaining rather than leaning on one of the nation’s best offensive lines and Swift, who runs violently and submits to tacklers infrequently, to get one measly yard.
Smart decided to kick a field goal because:
a) he may have the best FG kicker in the country right now
b) it means Notre Dame has to score TWO TOUCHDOWNS and make BOTH PATs in order to win the game
The field goal put Georgia up 23-10, and the thinking was that it would take two Notre Dame touchdowns from that point to beat them. Of course, even if Georgia had gone for the fourth down there and failed, the same math would have applied.
Actually, the same math would NOT have applied, Dan. If the score is 23-23, there is immense pressure on a college kicker to win the game. Plus, suppose (for the sake of argument) that UGA had two screw-ups (it wouldn't be the first time even under Kirby) and the Irish scored two TDs with time left. There's a HUGE difference for what your team has to do when trailing by one and trailing by four, especially when you've got (as I said earlier) perhaps the best FG kicker in the country, certainly a guy capable of 50-yard bombs to win the game if necessary.
College Football Playoff championship game two years ago: Georgia takes a 20-10 lead over Alabama into the fourth quarter, takes the ball out of Fromm’s hands to try to run the clock, loses.
After the score was 20-10 UGA, Georgia ran 13 runs and 8 pass plays, admittedly heavily towards the run.
How good was Fromm? He was 1 for 5 for 13 yards and two sacks for -21 yards, and he got a yard rushing.
UGA didn't pass because Alabama wouldn't let them pass.
And btw Dan - on the last offensive play that UGA ran before Alabama scored to make it 20-10......with the score 20-7......Fromm dropped back to pass and (wait for it) THREW AN INTERCEPTION!!!!
Kirby didn't get conservative in the national title game, he was facing a helluva defense.
SEC championship game last season: Georgia takes a 28-14 lead over Alabama in the third quarter, starts playing not to lose, gets predictable on offense, loses.
Again, Dan, I hope you were with some frisky coed or some other acceptable excuse as to why you apparently did not watch the damned ballgame upon which you're commenting.
Georgia led, 28-14. They then drove 62 yards in 6 plays - one of them a 55-yard pass play, Dan - and then Blankenship missed what for him should be a chip shot field goal, a score that would have made it 31-14, UGA.
Better yet, in the next series UGA intercepted Tua. Kirby didn't get conservative - he was at HIS OWN THREE-YARD LINE. So he called three runs and punted on 4th and one from his own 12 (Dan probably thinks Kirby should have gone for it).
After Tua got a quick score, UGA got the ball back and here's the play sequence:
Fromm rush for 3
Fromm pass to Ridley for 11 (first down)
Holyfield run for no gain
Fromm rush for 8 yards
3rd and 2 play - Fromm tries to (wait for it) PASS.....incomplete
But I'm not done even yet.
On the next series, Alabama was held to 3 and out, UGA got the ball and here's the play sequence:
Fromm pass for 7 yards on first down
Stanley rush for 12 yards (first down UGA)
Fromm pass incomplete
Fromm pass to Ridley for 6 (3rd and 4)
Fromm incomplete pass
UGA ran more PASSES when up by 7 than they did runs, Dan.
UGA ran more PASSES when up by 14 points (11-7) than they did runs, Dan.
And those numbers are skewed by the fact that three of the 7 runs were inside their own ten-yard line. (Two of Fromm's runs were actually pass plays where he escaped, so they're actually pass plays).
And after all that, Dan, Kirby Smart called the most boneheaded play in SEC title game history when he did NOT go conservative but instead called a fake punt at midfield on 4th and 11.
DID YOU NOT WATCH THE GAME, DAN?????
The fact the Fighting Irish even had a chance to do it in the first place should raise some questions about whether Smart wants to change or if he will keep on doing the same thing when it’s tight.
Except, you're full of crap, Dan, because he didn't do the same thing. Kirby Smart has plenty of flaws as a head coach, and Alabama fans will never cease pointing them out. But in reality, Smart didn't do anything wrong in any of these games except for the one play that WAS NOT conservative. His offense couldn't do jack the entire second half of the NCG - their one score came on a fluke where the receiver was probably out of bounds and they got 80 yards in one play.
The thing Dan doesn't seem capable of admitting is the reality that in neither of the last two years was UGA the better team than Alabama. If Tua starts the NCG, it's not even a contest.
Their coach lacking the courage to go win the game when it’s there for the taking may well be the biggest obstacle in their path.
Except he DID win the game you're citing, numb nuts.
=================
THIS is what drives me bonkers about commentators. They have a narrative and then they make appeals to that narrative that contradict it and yet get paid for it.