ATHENS — Kirby Smart wants his team to be aggressive. It certainly played that way on Saturday, with the Bulldogs relentlessly attacking the Texas Longhorns.
But at times, that aggressive nature may have hurt Georgia. The Bulldogs were flagged for 7 penalties, with all of them coming on the Georgia defense.
Two of those penalties were targeting calls on Dan Jackson and Joenel Aguero, which led to their ejections in the fourth quarter. Those two will now miss the first half of the game against Florida.
There were also some aggressive coaching moments as well that left many scratching their head.
The first came on the opening kick of the second half. Georgia attempted what appeared to either be an onside or squib kick to start things off.
But Peyton Woodring’s attempt hit Texas’ David Gbenda, who was able to recover the football. It gave the Longhorns the ball on their own 45-yard line.
“So the kick was, they have a very different alignment, and that was not the planned kick,” Smart said. “It was unfortunate. Peyton missed the ball a little bit. And we weren’t trying to squib that.”
The shortened field led to Texas’ first score of the half, with Texas benefiting from a third-down pass interference call on freshman KJ Bolden.
In the fourth quarter of the game, Georgia had two fourth-down attempts. The first led to Georgia’s only points of the second half, as Trevor Etienne punched it in from one yard out to give Georgia a 30-15 lead. A field goal would’ve made it a two-score game, but Georgia needed only a yard and got it.
The second attempt was not as successful.
With 2:18 remaining, Georgia was facing a fourth-and-1 on its own 40-yard line. The Bulldogs needed only a yard and could’ve run out the clock.
But this time, Etienne got stuffed. And that gave Texas another chance to make it a one-score game.
When questioned on the matter, Smart was strong in his belief to go for it.
“I mean, they needed two scores and we could end the game with less than a yard,” Smart said. “If I ever get a chance to end the game with less than a yard, then I’m going to count on the offense to do it. Just like we did on the touchdown run to create that. I think that’s not necessarily aggressive. It’s just intelligent.
“You know, what am I going to gain? Maybe 50 yards of field position versus winning the game. We’re going to go for it every time. Fourth and one on the road to Texas to win the game. We’re going to do it.”
Prior to that attempt, Georgia was 11 of 12 on the season on fourth down attempts. The Bulldogs rank first in the SEC in fourth down conversion rate even after that stuff, converting on 84.6 percent of their attempts.
No team in the country with at least 10 fourth-down attempts has a better conversion rate than Georgia.
The Smart decision didn’t end up hurting the Bulldogs, as Georgia was able to snuff out the Texas offense once again. The Longhorns converted on just one of their five fourth-down attempts on the night.
Georgia came away with a 30-15 win and moved up to No. 2 in both the AP Poll and Coaches Poll. The Bulldogs will be off this week before next taking on Florida on Nov. 2.
