Georgia coach Kirby Smart didn’t place blame on any single player after the Bulldogs’ 39-34 Sugar Bowl loss to Ole Miss, but he admitted one fourth-down situation proved pivotal. He said the sequence was not supposed to end the way it did, and the responsibility sits with the coaching staff.
A snap that was not supposed to happen
Georgia faced fourth and 2 at its own 33 and initially sent out the punt unit. An injury stoppage for Ole Miss gave Smart time to rethink the call. He said the plan was to bring the offense back out with the intention of either trying to draw the Rebels offsides or taking a delay of game before punting.
Instead, the ball was snapped to Gunner Stockton, who appeared caught off guard as Ole Miss linebacker Suntarine Perkins came free off the edge and made the sack. Smart called it a breakdown in execution and communication.
He said the snap should not have occurred given the look Ole Miss showed, even though Georgia’s analytics suggested going for it. With the Bulldogs having already let a 10 point second half lead slip away, Smart believed his team had lost momentum and was searching for a stabilizing moment, but the staff still did not want that play to be run in that exact setup.
Ole Miss took possession at the Georgia 23 and needed only two plays to score. The touchdown pushed the Rebels ahead by 10 with 9:05 remaining.
Ole Miss defensive lineman Princewill Umanmielen said the defense simply reacted to the snap, adding that once the ball moved, the job was to attack.
Earlier gamble worked, but late error carried a bigger cost
Georgia had already tried a trick on fourth down earlier in the half and that one went smoothly. Receiver Landon Roldan took a reverse handoff and threw a 16 yard completion to Lawson Luckie to move the chains. Smart said that call also came at a time when Georgia needed a spark. That drive ended with a field goal.
Looking back, Smart felt the successful fake punt and the later botched fourth down sequence roughly balanced in intent. One lifted Georgia briefly, the other handed Ole Miss a short field at a critical moment.
Still, Georgia responded. The Bulldogs fought back and tied the game at 34 with under a minute to play. The comeback did not hold, though, after Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss hit a 40 yard completion that put the Rebels in position for a winning field goal.
Georgia’s defense gave up 473 yards, the second most it has allowed this season. Smart said Ole Miss made more decisive plays and executed better when it mattered most, and he included himself and the staff in that assessment.
Streak ends and season closes in familiar venue
Georgia had already played Ole Miss earlier in the season. In an October meeting, the Bulldogs entered the fourth quarter down 9 before surging late for a 43 to 35 win. This time, the script flipped. Georgia’s loss snapped a 75 game winning streak when leading at the start of the fourth quarter, which had been the longest such run in the country.
It also marked a second straight year that Georgia’s title chase ended in the Superdome. Smart described Thursday’s defeat as a mix of costly moments rather than a single issue, even though he acknowledged there were plays he would like to have back.
After the game, Smart also credited the environment and the opponent. He said the Ole Miss crowd made it feel like a road setting, praised Chambliss for delivering under pressure, and pointed to a defensive plan that successfully adjusted after losing to Georgia two months earlier. Smart added that high stakes games like this are what the playoff is meant to produce.
