Was Georgia coach Kirby Smart going to go for two if Bulldogs scored late against Alabama?

Georgia football’s last offensive play of Saturday’s 41-34 loss to Alabama ended with a Carson Beck pass to the left corner of the end zone that was picked off by Alabama freshman Zabien Brown.

The target in the final minute was Miami transfer wide receiver Colbie Young.

Coach Kirby Smart was asked Tuesday if Georgia, which trailed by seven, would have kicked the extra point or gone for two and the win if Young came down with the touchdown.

“A very interesting question,” Smart said. “We had discussed that. I had actually talked about it at length on the headphones at the 2-minute mark and we had actually talked about it before the game because the LSU game came down to that with them (in 2022) when LSU was at home and decided (to go for two). We had discussed it previously and I felt very strongly if the clock was under 30 seconds that we would probably go for two.”

LSU beat Alabama 32-31 two years ago in overtime on a two point-conversion.

Brown’s interception came with 43 seconds to go.

“Talking to the analytics (people) afterwards, it was suggested to not do it, to play overtime,” Smart said. “Kick it. There’s a lot goes into that. If you give a team enough time and they know what they need, meaning it’s not tied, they have more aggression. They had three timeouts. They would have only needed a field goal. It would have played out possibly a different way.”

Smart had no issues with the play-call by offensive coordinator Mike Bobo to throw to the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Young.

“I liked the play call,” Smart said. “It had worked previously. He’s a guy that gets on top of people. You throw it over the top. He gets behind people. You throw it underneath. He makes a big play a lot of time. A great play by their kid. I’ll say that.”

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Kirby…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/georgia-coach-kirby-smart-going-232516609.html

Author : Athens Banner-Herald

Publish date : 2024-10-01 23:25:16

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