If you’d like to know what Georgia’s Mike Bobo was thinking when he called a bootleg pass on first-and-goal at the 4 at the end of the South Carolina game, you’ll have to keep wondering. The Bulldogs’ offensive coordinator declined to make himself available to reporters after the Bulldogs’ 38-35 loss Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium.
Georgia fans lit up Twitter and other social media platforms after the game wondering why the Bulldogs didn’t simply give the ball to tailback Todd Gurley. In retrospect, head coach Mark Richt wishes they would have.
“Yeah, it’s a play that looks good when you put it in, but it wasn’t very good that moment,” Richt said. “… If I had it to do it again we would’ve hammered it.”
After cornerback Damian Swann intercepted a Dylan Thompson pass and returned it to the 8, a South Carolina penalty set up the Bulldogs’ first-and goal at the 4. On first down, quarterback Hutson Mason faked a toss to Gurley to the left and intended to throw to H-back Quayvon Hicks on the right. But South Carolina had it sniffed out and Mason had to throw it away.
Unfortuntely for the Bulldogs he skidded it low into the middle of the line and not high and wide out of bounds. He was flagged for grounding.
“We tried to run a little fake-boot,” said Mason, who passed for 191 yards and 2 TDs in his first SEC start. “We felt really good about it. Obviously everyone in the world knew we were probably going to give the ball to Todd. We had two more downs to try to punch it in. But they played it really well. The D-end got in my face and I couldn’t really get it to Quayvon with a wet ball. So I just threw it at his feet. I didn’t think it was intentional grounding because he was right there.”
Gurley said he was confident the Bulldogs were going to score when the offense ran back onto the field.
“I’m like we’ve got it,” said Gurley, who ran for 131 yards and one score. “Not!”
Gurley wasn’t interested in second-guessing the play.
“That’s the coaches’ call,” he said. “I don’t have any say over the calls. If that’s what he felt was best, then go with it.”
Mason said there was numerous other issues that contributed to the loss, such as punching the ball into the end zone on other occasions.
“We had some opportunities to execute in the red zone,” he said. “That’s on me; that’s on my receivers. There’s just no excuse.”
About the Author
