Georgia Football: What exactly happened with that ‘Squib Kick’?

Georgia Football won the Rose Bowl thanks to a lot of great plays by their team, but a disastrous decision by Oklahoma before halftime got the ball rolling.

Now that the euphoria has died off just a little, we can start to do some work on the Rose Bowl! That means that I have finally re-watched the greatest game of my life from a critical perspective. And yes, there are criticisms from the best Georgia Football performance of my life by the way. There was one however that stood out above all others.

This one isn’t really about Georgia to be honest. You see, it’s about the ‘Squib Kick’ that we saw at the end of the second half. For those of you who don’t remember it (or were heading out for halftime like Jim Chaney), let me jog your memory:

The situation:

Georgia was in a hole. The Sooners had just scored their 4th touchdown of the game on an insane trick play. After Baker Mayfield caught a touchdown pass, Oklahoma led by 17 points with less than 10 seconds left in the half.

The two sidelines could not have been more different. Georgia was trying to figure out what it was going to do in the second half. The Sooners on the other hand were practically beaming. They were bouncing around like the game was already over.

What happened:

The Sooners attempted a sneaky Squib kick and it went right at UGA linebacker Tae Crowder. Crowder smartly caught the ball and fell on it, giving UGA 5 seconds to get a play off. Kirby Smart and his team ended up throwing a quick pass outside and called a timeout with 1 second left on the clock. That gave Rodrigo Blankenship a chance at a 55 yard field goal. The man they call ‘Specs’ nailed his career best attempted and Georgia went into the half down 2 scores instead of 3.

Why did it happen?

That depends on if you believe Lincoln Riley or not. Riley claimed at halftime that he called the play because he didn’t want to give up a long return. But considering the fact that his kicker had been on the money so far, that doesn’t make any sense to me. He could also have just kicked the ball out of bounds and UGA would have started on their 35 yard line rather than midfield. They would have had no chance to get off a play with that little time.

No, if I’m being honest, I think there was another reason for the kick. It wasn’t fear as shock jock Colin Coward has been spouting all week. That game was a true clash of titans and both sides gave it their everything. Riley and his team did not play scared in this game, but they might have gotten a little too cocky.

Hubris can be a killer.

Look, I’m not trying to beat down on Baker Mayfield here, the guy played a heck of a game and is a terrific player. He’s also a great leader and this entire team is inspired by his ‘swagger’. But this play call just stank of over confidence to me. It looked like a call of a program that thought that they couldn’t lose. One trying to rub salt into the wound and put up one more score before halftime. And it just went very wrong.

It’s pretty obvious where that attitude comes from. Mayfield’s swagger runs all the way through that team. Think about how the OU defense wagged their fingers every time they made a tackle. It’s like they completed forgot that Sony Michel just gashed them for a 75 yard TD. Yes UGA players celebrate when they get a big play, but it’s pretty much only on a 3rd down when they know the ball is changing hands.

The Sooner defenders celebrated giving up 3 yards on a 1st down like they had just stuffed Adrian Peterson on a 4th and inches. Sometimes it bordered on the ridiculous.

Now I can’t lay the blame on the players for that.

These are kids who are pumped up and excited as they should be. People can whine about Mayfield all they like but the guy played his tail off in that game. It’s the coaches that have to be able to control the emotion that players are feeding on. Energy is good, excitement is even better. But teams can enjoy themselves too much. When they do, they often end up taking their eye off the main goal. Winning. Lincoln Riley is a great play caller, I’m pretty sure that he’ll become a great coach as well one day, but I’m sorry, this mistake was on him.

And it’s not because he was trying to be conservative. It’s not because he got scared either. Riley, like the rest of the Sooners got caught up in just how well they played in the first half and he thought he could end UGA before halftime. Against pretty much any other team, that mistake wouldn’t have mattered. But this UGA team isn’t just another team.

There is something about these Dawgs that simply will not quit. 17 points down, who cares. Need a TD with 3 minutes left, you got it. Desperately need a stop in overtime to stay alive, no problem. Yes this Georgia team has confidence, yes it is sure of itself, but it is certainly not cocky. It’s a unit that prides itself in staying grounded and humble, fully convinced that those traits help them become a better team.

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Unfortunately for Riley, Mayfield and the rest of the Sooners, they found out about that the hard way on Monday night. ‘Swagger’ can only carry you so far.