There is one play that occurred during Georgia's loss to Alabama on Saturday that will be debated forever.
The Bulldogs had the ball deep in Alabama territory trailing by three points and faced a key 4th and one. Instead of taking the points to tie the game, Kirby Smart elected to play fast and hand the ball off to Cash Jones. As everyone knows, Jones was dropped behind the line of scrimmage and Georgia turned the ball over on downs.
Should Georgia have just kicked the field goal instead? Could Smart have called a better play on fourth down? These are the two questions that Georgia fans will debate forever, but a second look shows that the officials may have missed a call on the third down play before this as it looked like Georgia may have actually picked up the first down.
Aside from hurrying to the line with suboptimal personnel, Georgia also took away the official’s chances to review this play https://t.co/C1w3WZXnm8
— Graham Coffey (@GrahamCoffeyDC) September 28, 2025
Officials may have cost Georgia the game on key third down
It's impossible to tell from this angle if Georgia picked up the first down on this play or not. But it was close enough where the officials should have stopped the game to take a second look.
If they review the play and overturn the call on the field Georgia is sitting with a 1st and goal and has a great chance to score a touchdown and take a four point lead. However, if the play was confirmed to be short, this would have given Georgia ample time to decide to kick the field goal or make a better play call on fourth down.
Either way, this play was close enough where it warranted the officials stopping the game to review it.
Georgia however is probably the reason that didn't occur because they decided to play fast on fourth down. They didn't give the officials in the replay booth enough time to stop the game and review this play. So while Georgia could blame the officials for this blunder, it ultimately falls back on them for going too fast in the biggest moment of the game.