Georgia's 'heartbreaking' onside kick worked despite Texas' preparation
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Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart explained his bold decision to go for an onside kick early in the fourth quarter against the Texas Longhorns. Smart and Georgia were up 21-10 and had a kickoff after answering Texas’ scoring drive, which cut Georgia’s lead to 14-10.
Georgia running back Cash Jones successfully recovered the onside kick at around midfield to set Georgia up for another scoring drive. Georgia and quarterback Gunner Stockton cashed in with touchdown to expand the Dawgs’ lead to 28-10. Texas’ realistic hopes of a comeback were crushed without them even getting the ball.
“We worked that a lot, and we practiced a lot,” Smart said. “A little walk-on kid from Texas, Cash Jones, I bet you he’s taken 250 reps of that in his time being here. He kept asking me, when are we ever going to call it? Coach, I’d love to do it.
“It just felt like it was there. They’ve got the best returner in the country and I’d already seen him enough. One time, about burst through a hole that an 18-wheeler could have gone through. We got a holding call that prevented it, but I wasn’t kicking it to him again. I’d just as soon kick it to one of those front guys.”
Texas defensive back Ryan Niblett has two punt returns for touchdowns and nearly scored on a kickoff against Georgia (called back due to a Texas holding penalty on Cash Jones). Smart knows if Georgia did not recover the onside kick, then he would’ve faced a lot of questions from the media.
During the broadcast, ESPN commentator Kirk Herbstreit shared that Texas coach Steve Sarkisian thought that “something’s coming on special teams” and Georgia was still able to recover the kick.
Smart knows a recovered onside kick is ‘heartbreaking’
“It’s heartbreaking when that happens, because you just gave up a touchdown, and the defense is over there drinking water, and they all of a sudden got to go back out,” Smart said. “So I don’t know what the continuous time was they were on the field. Our offense, it’s like a big strong anaconda just squeezing you. You get squeezed, and you finally catch a little air, and then they’re back trying to suffocate you. So it was a big momentum play, and it would have been, every one of y’all would have thought I was an idiot if it didn’t work. So that’s okay too, that’s part of football.”
The momentum swing was too much for Texas to recover from. The Longhorns were unable to make the game interesting in the fourth quarter as Georgia won the fourth quarter 21-0.
Texas practiced onside kicks
“We knew where we might be vulnerable to one,” Steve Sarkisian said. “We actually practiced that kick with anticipation that it might occur. And we didn’t field the ball.
“It was a risk they were willing to take, because it’s a 21-10 game. We field that ball, we’re getting the ball at the plus-45 and with offense with some momentum to go score. They took the risk and they recovered it. And inevitably, those are momentum-changing plays… they took the risk, they made the play. And it was a heck of a kick and a nice recovery by them.”
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This article originally appeared on UGA Wire: What went into Georgia football’s onside kick that stunned Texas
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