Kirby Smart reveals the play that defined the Georgia win over Mississippi State

No. 1 Georgia outscored Mississippi State 28-7 in the second half en route to a convincing 45-19 victory over the Bulldogs Saturday night in Starkville.

The scoring barrage padded a poor first half performance that saw Georgia hold a five-point lead over Mississippi State at halftime. After the game, Kirby Smart discussed how the second half spark – beginning with a huge 70-yard touchdown rush by Ladd [McConkey] – willed his team to it’s 10th-straight victory this season.

“Tremendous job offensively to get the ball in the second half,” Smart said postgame. “We thought that would define the second half, to take the crowd out of it if we could get some momentum back. 

“We lost momentum in the first half at the end of it, but a tremendous job [on the 70-yard scoring play] by Darnell Washington, just elite perimeter blocking. Ladd [McConkey] breaks one tackle, Rosemy has blocks downfield and Ladd outran them. It was just a great play call, a great design. It was a play that we put in this week for that look and it hit.”

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Right before the break, Mississippi State was able to sneak a touchdown right at the end the first half, allowing Zavion Thomas to run a punt back 63 yards to the house that cut the lead to one score at the break. Smart’s halftime speech went as expected.

“I just told them I was disappointed in the way that we had handled some things, that we had really played well defensively and give up one play and we needed a spark,” Smart said. “You know, it was the first time we were going to have the ball starting out the second half it seemed like in forever, and we needed to go out and make a statement.”

Georgia received the second half kickoff, and it took them just two plays to march 75 yards and score thanks to McConkey’s huge run. The Georgia defense forced a punt on the subsequent drive before marching down the field for yet another score to pad the lead even further.

The Bulldogs would outscore Mississippi State 14-0 in the final quarter, sealing the victory and securing Georgia’s spot in the 2022 SEC Championship game.