Bama’s Geno Smith went the wrong way on UGA’s last play
That's Geno Smith of Atlanta at Chris Conley's feet on the frantic game's final play. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
Miami Gardens, Fla. — Geno Smith sat in the stands at Sun Life Stadium on Saturday. Come Monday night, the freshman cornerback from Atlanta’s St. Pius X will play for Alabama in the BCS title game, and his mother and grandmother will be on hand to watch. But on this humid Media Day, Smith was answering questions about the final play of the Tide’s last game.
“It all ended up working out,” Smith said, but here in South Florida it has been revealed that not everything about the last snap of the classic SEC championship game against Georgia went according to Bama plans. Ten Tide defenders did what they were supposed to do; Geno Smith was the exception.
He dropped into coverage when he should have blitzed. He doesn’t know why. He heard the defensive call — “Spear,” in Alabama parlance — and just went elsewhere. “I was going to take the back (Georgia’s Todd Gurley),” Smith said. “I wound up taking the dude in front of me, No. 31.”
No. 31 for Georgia was receiver Chris Conley, who ultimately caught the pass thrown by Aaron Murray intended for Malcolm Mitchell but redirected by the left hand of the leaping linebacker C.J. Mosley. Conley fell after the catch, and the final five seconds expired and the Bulldogs fell five yards short of playing Notre Dame for the national championship.
You can see Smith in AJC photographer Curtis Compton’s shot of Conley’s catch. The defender was on the turf, having brushed against Conley. Where Smith was supposed to be, however, was where Mosley ended up: Coming off Georgia’s right flank, trying to harass Murray.
“We wound up with two people covering Chris Conley,” said Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart, a Georgia alum. “When a team has to snap the ball in a hurry, we think it’s an advantage to pressure. We call it a ‘fastball’ play.”
Both Mosley and Smith were supposed to take their key from Gurley. Had the back run a pass route, they’d have shadowed him. When he stayed put to block, that was their cue to rush.
Said Mosley: “It was a called blitz, but I had the back. At the end of the game, momentum was high, anxiety was high, so I just went and pressured the back.”
Smith: “He wound up doing my job.”
Smart: “Geno was supposed to be coming. Both had Gurley. We call that our ‘green dog’ blitz. If he’d come, we might have had four hands in (Murray’s) face. On the other hand, he might have batted the ball for an incompletion and they’d have had four or five seconds.”
Famed deflector C.J. Mosley at Media Day. (Photo by M. Bradley)
Here again, we see how the fickle fingers of fate — on Saturday, Mosley said “I couldn’t even tell you” how many digits he’d applied to Murray’s pass — favored Alabama in a moment that will long live in the memory of two famous programs. Say Smith had been the one in the path of Murray’s throw: He’s 6-foot, as opposed to Mosley’s 6-2. And, as Smart noted in a Friday briefing, Mosley has shown “a knack” for batting passes in practice and in games and “was a really good basketball player in high school.”
There was also a massive human element involved: Smart’s best friend is Mike Bobo, the offensive coordinator who called the play that Smart’s defense defused. “Mike felt (Murray) should have thrown the fade to the other side,” Smart said, meaning to Tavarres King on the left and not Mitchell on the right. “We had our best corner (All-American Dee Milliner) on that side.”
(Bobo did not respond to a mid-December invitation to revisit the end of the Alabama game.)
Smart: “I found Mike in the locker room afterward. We were both sick to our stomachs going in. It was like when we played Will (Muschamp, the former Bulldog who’s now Florida’s coach and who was Texas’ defensive coordinator in the BCS title game in January 2010), but I wasn’t actually matched up against Will.”
Last month Murray said he believed his pass for Mitchell, if untouched, would have been a touchdown. “I don’t think it would,” Milliner said Saturday. “But I’m glad we’re here, and they’re in the land of ‘could’ve, should’ve, would’ve.’ ”
Likewise glad was the freshman Smith, whose mistake did Alabama no harm and perhaps some good. (Had he not bumped Conley after Mosley’s deflection, might the receiver have kept his feet?) Even before Milliner’s apparent clinching interception was overturned with 45 seconds remaining, Smith wasn’t sure his Tide would prevail.
“We were going off the field, we were on the sideline thinking we’d won, and I was thinking, ‘I don’t know if that’s a catch,’ ” Smith said. “Then they hit us with three passes and they were in our red zone, and I was thinking, ‘Oh, man.’ ”
But all’s well that ends well … right? Mosley said he and Smith laughed about the missed assignment afterward, with Mosley saying, ‘Better not do that again, next time they call it.’ ”
Still, it must be noted that Smith wasn’t laughing, or even smiling, when recounting his lapse Saturday. The Alabama program isn’t based on merriment.
“Everything worked out,” Smith said again, still not sure how.
Further reading: Fifteen fateful seconds – the Georgia Bulldogs look back in anguish.
BCS background: History may favor the underdog Irish, but Alabama is too good.
By Mark Bradley
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116 comments Add your comment
betamax
January 5th, 2013
8:37 pm
richt, muschamp and miles are praying that saban takes an nfl job soon. if not, he’ll be dominating the SEC for years—he may end up with 10 bcs titles before he’s through. He’s winning title #3 in 4 years on monday against nd–an easy win!
Ed
January 5th, 2013
8:46 pm
This dead horse is still dead. 12-2, 2nd best team in the SEC, probable no. 5 in the final polls. Let’s move on, looking forward to the 2013 season.
captaindave
January 5th, 2013
8:57 pm
It has only been five weeks. No reason to think Mark Bradley’s obsession on this subject will end any time soon.
Double Standard?
January 5th, 2013
9:12 pm
@ 1969 Graduate
In a 3 game span during the season Uga barely beat a terrible Tennessee team, got killed by Carolina, and barely beat a terrible Kentucky.
Am I supposed to believe Uga was really one of the best teams in the nation?? Makes me wonder how good they really were…
Old Branch Cock
January 5th, 2013
9:36 pm
35-07
Mark Bradley
January 5th, 2013
9:59 pm
Because, Stinger 2, Alabama assistant coaches don’t speak on the record during the season. But they are required to be available to the media at this event. We wouldn’t have known if Kirby Smart hadn’t mentioned it in a response to a question by David Paschall of the Chattanooga Times on Friday, and I asked my own questions at Media Day.
DawgNole
January 5th, 2013
10:02 pm
Double Standard?
January 5th, 2013
9:12 pm
In a 3 game span during the season Uga barely beat a terrible Tennessee team, got killed by Carolina, and barely beat a terrible Kentucky.
Am I supposed to believe Uga was really one of the best teams in the nation?? Makes me wonder how good they really were…
____________________
What matters is 12-2–and yes, that makes UGA “really one of the best teams in the nation!!” Stop wondering–they were good enough to win 12 of 14 games. Few others can say that this season.
NCDawg
January 5th, 2013
10:03 pm
Double Standard? – Bama was beaten at home by Texas A&M… does that mean they shouldn’t be playing for the National Championship? Georgia gave Bama everything they could handle and only Bama fans think that winning a game but sheer luck is justification for a insane amount of gloating. They crow about getting 350 yards but fail to acknowledge that they were a fluke play away from having that mean absolutely nothing. They fail to acknowledge that they could not run out the clock on a dead tired defense. Georgia was good enough to beat Bama and if they had they would have been good enough to beat Notre Dame. That would mean they were good enough to win the National Championship. Wonder all you want. They will finish #3 or #4 in the final poll.
Wet Willie...keep on smiling
January 5th, 2013
10:09 pm
NC Dawg who is these Bama fans trash talking? Most try and defend the program from the daily bashing of Nick Saban due to greyshirts/oversigning or the elite and oh so proper Georgiee folks making fun of the State of Alabama. You wish to talk the talk but you’re no so good at walking the walk.
Do this sport….GTF off your soapbox until you do something that allows you the Mic! Until then just dust your one trophy and be quiet.
daddo
January 5th, 2013
10:10 pm
On the doorstep to greatness….hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha…..
Old Branch Cock
January 5th, 2013
10:14 pm
Georgia played 3 teams that will finish ranked at the end of the year, and lost to two of them. They also benefitted from the easiest SEC schedule (other than Alabama). Oregon, Stanford, A&M, LSU (despite losing last week) would all be favored over them if they were to play. Oh, and lets don’t forget that 28 point beatdown they took in October (which wasn’t even that close). Keep dreaming dawgs, keep dreaming.
Nobody Noticed
January 5th, 2013
11:08 pm
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
4 yards… and nobody will ever remember it after Monday. Except you guys.
flagboy?
January 5th, 2013
11:16 pm
Double Standard?
January 5th, 2013
9:12 pm
@ 1969 Graduate
In a 3 game span during the season Uga barely beat a terrible Tennessee team, got killed by Carolina, and barely beat a terrible Kentucky.
Am I supposed to believe Uga was really one of the best teams in the nation?? Makes me wonder how good they really were
________________________________________
Only really matters if you have a vote in the AP poll. . and i’m not betting on that.
Columbus
January 5th, 2013
11:35 pm
Saban is going to coach the Cleveland Browns. He will announce Wednesday, the day after the NC. He has already been interviewing assistants. Yeah I know he says he isnt leaving but he said that everywhere he has been and then he left. One time he left the following DAY after saying he wasnt leaving….Hes proved himself in college. Hes going to fulfill a dream to partner with his buddy in Cleveland in the NFL where he began….
Happy
January 5th, 2013
11:39 pm
Columbus
January 5th, 2013
11:35 pm
Saban is going to coach the Cleveland Browns. He will announce Wednesday, the day after the NC. He has already been interviewing assistants. Yeah I know he says he isnt leaving but he said that everywhere he has been and then he left. One time he left the following DAY after saying he wasnt leaving….Hes proved himself in college. Hes going to fulfill a dream to partner with his buddy in Cleveland in the NFL where he began….
_____________________________________
You are so retarded, proven by the point you live in Columbus Georgia, the crotch of Georgia.
Happy
January 5th, 2013
11:41 pm
Pussy Galore
January 5th, 2013
3:08 pm
Best 3 teams in the nation are Bama,Georgia,and Texas A&M. Bama was lucky to beat Dawgs! In fact we didn’t lose to Bama! Time just ran out.
________________________________________________
Another one, just like The good man upstairs ran out of time when he was handing out brains to you.
A person SMART enough to know.....
January 5th, 2013
11:46 pm
Columbus…………..are you willing to BET your use of the AJC sports blogs on that statement?
If Saban doesn’t go to the NFL you can’t come back on the AJC SPORTS Blogs under Any Name for 1 year from Wednesday. You are gone until until 1/10/2014.
You willing to take that BET?
Happy
January 5th, 2013
11:51 pm
A person SMART enough to know…..
January 5th, 2013
11:46 pm
Columbus…………..are you willing to BET your use of the AJC sports blogs on that statement?
If Saban doesn’t go to the NFL you can’t come back on the AJC SPORTS Blogs under Any Name for 1 year from Wednesday. You are gone until until 1/10/2014.
You willing to take that BET?
___________________________________________
There is no way he is willing to take that bet, because he has no moral qualities about him at all.
Buzz2011
January 6th, 2013
12:25 am
Why is this still being discussed Bradley?
This happened a month ago! The Dogs lost, lost, lost.
They are second tier SEC and will always be same, get over it..
LakeDawg
January 6th, 2013
12:35 am
In the 15 reasons to hate Bama, #12 is my favorite.
12. Alabama has not been called for holding in an SEC game since 1964.
When an SEC official mistakenly made this call, he was forced to move to the only place in the world worse than Tuscaloosa…Tehran.
dobearsbare
January 6th, 2013
1:29 am
You folks saying “move on” clearly don’t have a sense for the mood of Georgia fans in general. We’ll be agonizing over that loss forever. Bradley is absolutely right to write about it here. In a broader sense, it’s entirely appropriate to discuss with Alabama players and coaches how they got here.
As for the last play, a look at a replay of the game left me convinced that there was no way Mitchell was going to catch that pass and score. Milliner was all over him. I’m impressed with their confidence, but it just wasn’t there.
Real Fans of College Football with an Education
January 6th, 2013
1:54 am
LakeDawg
January 6th, 2013
12:35 am
In the 15 reasons to hate Bama, #12 is my favorite.
12. Alabama has not been called for holding in an SEC game since 1964.
When an SEC official mistakenly made this call, he was forced to move to the only place in the world worse than Tuscaloosa…Tehran.
_________________________________________________________________
Lake Dawg,
We have know for years by your post that football knowledge and acumen limits your ability to comprehend and understand football. Your extreme hatred for any and all schools that continually make your favorite school look less than great raises your level of overall unfactual post ignorance.
Please retreat back into your doghouse and regroup. Plus anyone who continues to mispell dog even in their own name allows everyone else around you to laugh at your extreme levels of teetering senility.
molto
January 6th, 2013
2:10 am
why didn’t murray spike the ball? if he did, ga wins the game.
B
January 6th, 2013
5:21 am
Still hurts
dean
January 6th, 2013
6:53 am
The biggest travesty is GA went to Orlando and FL went to a BCS game.
Shoo Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy Society
January 6th, 2013
7:30 am
“UGA had that chance and now, wait till next year.”
————————————————-
Right, except that in UGA’s case, “next year” means sometime around the middle of this century.
Dream on and keep swilling the Kool-Aid.
cloudodust
January 6th, 2013
7:40 am
Seeing how UGA fans continue to revisit their many positive plays from 1980, I don’t see a problem disecting one resulting negative play and it’s set of What If’s from 2012.
Truth
January 6th, 2013
7:42 am
Still whining and romanticizing this loss?
Jeez, move on people.
And you had considerable trouble with Nebraska…UGA is clearly NOT a top team this year and has NO business in a NC game.
UGA’s “best” win was against a Florida team that was HANDLED by a Big East team. LOL!
Piney Woods Pete
January 6th, 2013
7:42 am
A few obvious truths for Dawg Nation to chew on:
The team with intelligence, class, and heart won, which is as it should be.
Kool-Aid doesn’t win the big games, no matter how much of it you swill.
Drunks, drug addicts, and woman-beaters are not winners in anything.
And, just a reminder that real coaches like Saban win championships, while overpaid pretenders like Richt do not.
Time and Tide
January 6th, 2013
7:49 am
I’m sure that Dawg Nation will be unanimous in cheering the Crimson Tide on to victory against Notre Dame. Even dawgs admire the strength and skills of a well-coached team of scholar-athletes, especially since they see so little of that in Athens, bless their hearts.
Save that leftover New Year’s champagne to celebrate the Tide’s second straight BCS championship!
Let's Go
January 6th, 2013
7:53 am
Is this how bad it is Mark that you have to keep whinning about a game that was played a month ago? Get over it and quit wondering about what could have been. As soon as the game was over the only thing that mattered was Alabama won and Georgia lost and there would be no “do overs”. Let it go and just hope Georgia can go a whole off season without a few players getting arrested and kicked off the team.
evil empire
January 6th, 2013
8:08 am
haven’t posted in a while, so hello to all my AJC fans…just a few comments: shut up, you lost, get over it…choking on the big stage has become a georgia tradition under the current regime…not sure if dr. heimlich or linda lovelace could help correct the choking issue; seems to be in the dna…
Zip 30327 Rich
January 6th, 2013
8:10 am
“We didn’t lose to Bama, time just ran out” lol. Go Dawgs!
older1
January 6th, 2013
8:33 am
I see Dial gets A FREE PASS ON THE HIT ON MURRY. NOT SURPRISED.
Wet Willie...keep on smiling
January 6th, 2013
8:36 am
@Rich zip…that is a fair statement.
Wet Willie...keep on smiling
January 6th, 2013
8:37 am
Older…and your eye poker and the cheap shot player that hit AJ in the head got a get out of jail free card as well! Call McGarity and you both can cry together.
Big Crimson 75
January 6th, 2013
8:50 am
Dawgnole — One can always count on you being a classy UGA supporter.
Dallas Lee & Ryan Anderson were sent packing from Miami — shape up boys, doesn’t matter how many stars you came to Bama with.
ND will play well. They’ll play hard.
I think We got a little too much for em at the end of the day.
If McCarron plays well, we win rather handily.
To the clowns, Saban isn’t going to the NFL, this time.
If anything, Brian Kelly may be coaching his last college game(for a while, anyway) tomorrow night.
That distraction should help Bama.
Roll Tide
kidsballcoach
January 6th, 2013
9:01 am
Looks to me that Geno’s football instincts took him to the ball!! Great job. GO SPX!
silver britches
January 6th, 2013
9:10 am
The key to the loss was not one play. It was the collapse of the D line that allowed 350 rushing yards. That falls on Richt and Grantham. Time to move on.
JimDawg
January 6th, 2013
9:13 am
What if……….The dogs will always be 5 yards short. Bank on it.
evil empire
January 6th, 2013
9:15 am
@ed…
This dead horse is still dead. 12-2, 2nd best team in the SEC, probable no. 5 in the final polls. Let’s move on, looking forward to the 2013 season.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2nd best team in the SEC?…you obviously didn’t watch the cotton bowl…TAMU would stomp georgia’s monkey azz…that being said, stoops is cmr’s equal in big game chokers…but he does own some crystal, has played for crystal…all of which georgia hasn’t…georgia does own more bowl participation ribbons, if that makes yall sleep better at night…
evil empire
January 6th, 2013
9:19 am
hey ed…2nd best team in SEC??? did you watch the cotton bowl??? TAMU would stomp georgia’s effiminate behind…
Old Dog Class of 80
January 6th, 2013
9:35 am
“I still say the biggest play was when Alabama made the two point conversion. If they don’t make that we kick a short field goal to win”
And I agree with you 7576DAWG. That is the difference in coaches. If our coach even had the sense to COPY Saban – if we had gone for two points and made it on our last TD, we could have kicked a field goal and tied the game.
Fair n Balanced
January 6th, 2013
9:37 am
Lets move on. Put this stuff in the history books etc. that’s fine. But we don’t need any more stories in the newspapers now.
Moist Dawg
January 6th, 2013
9:51 am
You can tell by them naming our defense “green Dog” that we are in their heads. They are green with envy at our future.
Bobo should’ve punched kirby dumb in the face when he came to see him to rub it in in the locker room. Those two and there post game pillow fight make Moist sick to his stomach.
At least bama even admits that we have a brighter future than them.
Wet Willie...keep on smiling
January 6th, 2013
9:57 am
Moist ….Alabama will ranked #1 again in 2013 and will be a better team than the 2012 version. Comeback when you do something other than talk about how close you were! Respect is earned. You don’t get that being the very best college football team in America from March until August.
Moist Dawg
January 6th, 2013
10:14 am
A lesson on respect from someone named wet willie. What a joke. You could tell by them naming their defense green Dawg that we have a sublimenil affect in their heads. Nick Satan knows it, why do you think he is going to cleveland? He wants to go out on top and sees the writing on the wall. UGA is waaay more talented in the next couple years and Satan is runnning scared.
Flat Tire doesnt live in Delusionalville Ga.
January 6th, 2013
10:18 am
Moist Dawg
“At least bama even admits that we have a brighter future than them”
Seriously, please drop the kool-aid bottle
Bama is laughing at us for not being able to win the big games and loving nothing more than 10 win Capitol One Bowl Mediocrity
Shug
January 6th, 2013
10:22 am
Talk about an article meant only to fill space. . . .
A person SMART enough to know.....
January 6th, 2013
10:57 am
If UGa won the SEC CG think of how many DVDs they could have sold. then in 2017 they could re-release the 2012 Season DVD and then in 2032 they could do a new DVD for the 20th anniversary like the 1980 season.