Kirby Smart recalls pivotal play from Georgia’s national championship loss vs. Alabama

Sometimes you remember the losses more than the wins. Sure, Georgia might have the back-to-back national championships. But what if the party got started back in January 2018 in the title game against Alabama? One play in particular stands out for Bulldog fans and all it takes to remember is a simple phrase — Tyler Simmons was onside.

Already up two scores, Alabama was getting ready to punt the ball away. Except Simmons was able to pull off a clean block, giving Georgia the ball back in the red zone. Or so he thought. The officiating crew called Simmons offsides, giving JK Scott another opportunity to boot the ball downfield.

Since Georgia is playing South Carolina this week, the play was brought up to Kirby Smart on Tuesday. Shane Beamer was the special teams coach for Georgia back then, giving his thoughts on the play as well. In typical Smart fashion, he claimed to be over the play immediately and actually believed the offside decision did not matter too much.

“I was over it right after it happened,” Smart said. “I just assumed they made the call that they saw and they felt confident about. In all reality, it should have come back anyway because they had people moving before the snap. So, it wasn’t about whether he was onside or not. Presnap should have negated the play. But it was something we worked hard on.”

Smart has since won two national championships, likely helping him get over the decision. Beamer, though? Not so much. He still thinks about the play a lot, claiming Georgia would have won the national championship had the correct call been made.

“I don’t want to say it cost us a National Championship but that was a significant play in the game that potentially cost us a National Championship game that night,” Beamer said. “That blocked punt happens early in the second half and there probably isn’t an overtime. I’ve gotten past it as you can tell. It doesn’t bother me anymore. That was one, that was Kirby. We had a whole month to work on it and he was exactly right.”

Everything after the called-back blocked punt is history. Tua Tagovailoa etched his name into Alabama football history, completing an incredible second-half comeback. 2nd and 26 is a play that will be remembered in Tuscaloosa forever, with Tagovailoa connecting with Devonta Smith to win the game.

No matter how many championships Georgia goes on to win with Smart, the phrase ‘Tyler Simmons was onside’ will always bring out a reaction from Bulldog fans.