Smart, players discuss failed fourth-down attempt at end of Vandy loss
Georgia, facing a fourth-and-1 with the game on the line, had plenty to ponder following Vanderbilt’s final timeout.
Having motioned Isaiah McKenzie from slot receiver to tailback before moving tight end Jeb Blazevich to the line of scrimmage, Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason elected to use a timeout and rethink what he was doing on defense.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart and the offensive staff then had a decision to make -- stick with the play or go with something else. Smart said a discussion to change the play took place. But once the two teams lined up again, the Bulldogs went with what was originally called before the timeout.
McKenzie motioned again from receiver to tailback, with Nick Chubb, Georgia’s best runner, lined up at fullback. Blazevich motioned to the same spot again and then Georgia snapped the ball.
The end result was a very little gain from McKenzie on a toss sweep, with Vanderbilt linebacker Zach Cunningham bringing him down short of the first-down marker. That play secured Vanderbilt’s stunning 17-16 win over Georgia.
When asked if showing the play tipped Vanderbilt off, Chubb said “maybe,” since the Commodores did call a timeout.
But head coach Kirby Smart said Vanderbilt’s alignment, by showing two inside linebackers run-blitzing up the gut, was why the Bulldogs stuck with the call.
“They had run the same stunt two or three times earlier in the game,” Smart said. “They were looking for the inside zone play, which we had run two or three times earlier in the game. They had stopped us each time. Coming out of the timeout, they ran the same stunt, which I wasn’t sure they would, because they’d just showed it. They did, where they put everyone up in the middle and plugged. We really thought we had the exact defense we wanted.”
Cunningham, one of the two inside linebackers showing blitz, ended up reading the play and didn't appear to just blitz up the middle. After the snap, two Vanderbilt defenders crashed in front of Cunningham, who saw the toss and was able to run the play down at the correct angle. With two blockers occupied, and right tackle Greg Pyke pulling, the only Georgia lineman assigned to Cunningham was center Brandon Kublanow.
Kublanow was unable to make the block, which allowed Cunningham, a 6-foot-4 and 230-pound linebacker, to make a tackle on a 5-foot-8 and 175-pound receiver handling a toss sweep. Vanderbilt may have showed blitz, but it sure appeared Cunningham was told to be cognizant of the outside run based on how he ran down the play.
“I would have called timeout if they weren’t blitzing up the middle,” Smart said. “But once I saw the blitz up the middle, we had the call we wanted.”
The personnel to motion McKenzie to tailback and have Chubb as its fullback isn’t anything newly designed for this particular game. Georgia has run this to little success throughout the season. The best example of it was against Mississippi, with Georgia running a fullback dive to Chubb that went for no gain on a third-and-inches.
The Bulldogs have also previously tried to run outside with McKenzie out of this set.
McKenzie said the offense felt good about the play before and after Vanderbilt’s timeout.
“We thought it was a great play and we could execute it well,” McKenzie said. “We came out and felt good about it. It just didn’t happen for us.”
Georgia’s offense was at a loss of words following the game. The Bulldogs piled up 421 total yards to Vanderbilt’s 171, while running 25 more plays, and lost by a point.
As it pertained to Georgia's final offensive play, left tackle Tyler Catalina said Vanderbilt was just able to get the job done in that situation.
“We thought it was going to work,” Catalina said. “They played harder than us. They beat us to it.”
This story was originally published October 15, 2016 at 5:24 PM with the headline "Smart, players discuss failed fourth-down attempt at end of Vandy loss."