In Sugar Bowl, could Georgia be plotting special-teams trickery?

NEW ORLEANS – As fortune favors the bold, so have well-executed special-teams surprises profited Georgia.

Coach Kirby Smart has been unafraid to take calculated risks at critical moments of big games. Could more be in the offing in the Bulldogs’ Sugar Bowl matchup against Ole Miss Thursday night?

At the bowl media day Tuesday, Ole Miss special-teams coordinator Jake Schoonover told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he was preparing for the unexpected in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal.

“When big games come, when playoffs come and things like that, coach Smart’s ready to do whatever he needs to do to win a game,” Schoonover said. “So you’ve got to prepare for those things, as well.”

Schoonover did not speak idly.

In the SEC championship against Texas in 2024, Kirby Smart called for a fake punt from the Bulldogs’ own 30-yard line in the fourth quarter of a game tied at 13. The ploy succeeded – center Drew Bobo, lined up as a punt protector, took the direct snap and fed the ball to wide receiver Arian Smith, who ran around the edge for a first down – and the Bulldogs drove for a go-ahead field goal.

In a high-profile matchup against the same Longhorns this November, Smart dialed up a surprise onside kick with his team up 21-10 early in the fourth quarter. The trick play again caught Texas sleeping, as Cash Jones recovered to set up a touchdown drive that put the game out of reach.

Asked Tuesday what gave him the willingness to take such risks in such important games, Smart gave a clinical answer.

“Well, film study,” he said Tuesday at the team’s bowl media day. “It’s part of coaching. Everybody is looking to gain an advantage and edge. There’s not a coach in the country that’s not trying to gain a competitive advantage. There are things you work on, try to highlight maybe your kids’ strengths, maybe try to highlight their weaknesses.”

Anyone who has followed Georgia long enough knows that Smart’s special-teams gambles haven’t always paid off. Late in the fourth quarter of the 2018 SEC championship against Alabama with the score tied at 28, Smart called for a fake punt using backup quarterback Justin Fields. The play was foiled and led directly to the Crimson Tide’s game-winning touchdown.

While it failed, Smart’s willingness to try it at such a late stage in a championship game speaks to his risk-taking mentality.

“It could be the greatest idea in the world, but if it doesn’t work, it wasn’t very smart,” Smart said, perhaps sarcastically. “And that’s just a roll of the dice, I guess.”

On the other hand, Georgia was victimized by Notre Dame’s special-teams shenanigans in last year’s Sugar Bowl. Midway through the fourth quarter with Notre Dame leading 23-10, the Fighting Irish lined up for a punt, but then quickly ran all 11 players off the field and brought the offense on. Georgia responded by sending in its defense.

But in the confusion, Georgia jumped offsides, giving Notre Dame a key first down. After the game, Smart contended the play was illegal, but was in error. As the play took place coming out of an official’s timeout for a stoppage of play, the play was within the rules.

This season, Smart ran the same play against Mississippi State with success.

“We keep a lot of things like that in our back pocket and try to be aggressive and use them,” Smart said after the game, a Bulldogs win. “We learned a valuable lesson against Notre Dame, let’s just say that.”

Schoonover said the Rebels coaching staff is “definitely looking at things (the Bulldogs) have done” in the trick-play realm. Particularly given that Georgia has had most of a month to scour Ole Miss game video to find vulnerabilities, Schoonover has also self-scouted to anticipate where his units may be susceptible to trickery.