Georgia’s Kirby Smart Explains Key Timeout Before Ohio State Fake Punt

Georgia coach Kirby Smart is being hailed for his decision to call a fourth-quarter timeout against Ohio State in Saturday night’s Peach Bowl. 

With 8:58 to play in the final quarter, Smart and his staff noticed Ohio State lined up in a strange punt formation and called a timeout that snuffed out a fourth-down fake punt and potentially saved the Bulldogs’ season.

At the time, Ohio State led 38–27, and if the fake was executed, the Buckeyes would have been able to kill more time off the game clock. Instead, Smart called a timeout just before the snap, and the play was carried out as a fake just after the whistle blew. Georgia would go on to win the game 42–41. 

On Monday, Smart was asked by Pat McAfee on ESPN’s CollegeGameDay about what some are calling the “greatest timeout in the history of college football.”

“The biggest thing about the opportunity for the timeout was that we’ve had two punts faked on us this year,” Smart said. “We are very aware and know that people are going to try to steal possessions, so we’ve talked and I think we had it happen against South Carolina and we had it happen again this year … Auburn missed one. So we’ve always said if we thought it was coming or was imminent that we would call timeout and when I saw the formation it was a fake formation.”

Forcing an Ohio State punt at that juncture was critical in Georgia’s victory as they now head to the national championship for the second consecutive season, looking to defend their crown against No. 3 TCU.