Onsides Kick Decision - Game Thoughts

#1
ansleyr815

ansleyr815

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#1
1) The decision to attempt an onsides kick was wrong. Other than the 20% chance of a recovery, there was no upside to kicking onsides in that situation. There were over 2 minutes left on the clock, and we had 3 timeouts, and we were only down by 3 points. If we kick it deep, Georgia is most likely on their own 25, but most importantly, Georgia is in 3-down territory. Georgia would have punted on 4th down, and we would have had 35 seconds to gain 40 yards for a game-tying field goal. By kicking onsides, we gave Georgia the ball on our side of the field, and therefore gave Gurly an extra 4th down rush to end the game. He did just that.

2) Growth is eye-popping. This young team is gaining confidence and growing into a national power in warped speed. Hurd already looks like a sophomore, and more importantly, really cares. He was devastated by his fumble in the end zone. We have needed more passion on this team for years. Derek Barnett is already a beast, and could become unstoppable in upcoming seasons. Todd Kelly Jr. nabbed his first of many interceptions. His ability to read the QB on that play was elite. And maybe the most impressive is Cam Sutton. This young man will play on Sundays. There are many more, but we as fans need to understand just how much our talent level is improving. The upcoming recruiting class should have all fans even more excited.

3) I believe refs missed call on game-winning punt. On the replays, the Georgia player downed the punt at our 1-yard line, but his foot touched our goal-line. I am not 100% sure of the rule in college, but in the NFL, if any part of your body touches the goal-line, then it is a touchback. I couldn't understand why this wasn't reviewed, or why CBJ didn't object to the call before running a play. This obviously would have changed the game.

4) Receivers must be tougher. I mentioned this last week, but I must say it again. Our receivers are extremely talented, and obviously still young. Our receivers must learn how to catch a contested pass. I know that they can't catch them all, but it seems like they lose almost every battle for the ball.

5) Play-calling. We as fans are piling on the play-calling decisions. I agree that there are moments when I could call better situational offensive plays, but as a whole, it was improved. If it continues to improve, then maybe we should just let it play out. There is probably more going than meets the eye regarding many of these decisions. Benefit of the doubt is required. :dunno:
 
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#4
#4
ansleyr815 said:
1) The decision to attempt an onsides kick was wrong. Other than the 20% chance of a recovery, there was no upside to kicking onsides in that situation. There were over 2 minutes left on the clock, and we had 3 timeouts, and we were only down by 3 points. If we kick it deep, Georgia is most likely on their own 25, but most importantly, Georgia is in 3-down territory. Georgia would have punted on 4th down, and we would have had 35 seconds to gain 40 yards for a game-tying field goal. By kicking onsides, we gave Georgia the ball on our side of the field, and therefore gave Gurly an extra 4th down rush to end the game. He did just that.

2) Growth is eye-popping. This young team is gaining confidence and growing into a national power in warped speed. Hurd already looks like a sophomore, and more importantly, really cares. He was devastated by his fumble in the end zone. We have needed more passion on this team for years. Derek Barnett is already a beast, and could become unstoppable in upcoming seasons. Todd Kelly Jr. nabbed his first of many interceptions. His ability to read the QB on that play was elite. And maybe the most impressive is Cam Sutton. This young man will play on Sundays. There are many more, but we as fans need to understand just how much our talent level is improving. The upcoming recruiting class should have all fans even more excited.

3) I believe refs missed call on game-winning punt. On the replays, the Georgia player downed the punt at our 1-yard line, but his foot touched our goal-line. I am not 100% sure of the rule in college, but in the NFL, if any part of your body touches the goal-line, then it is a touchback. I couldn't understand why this wasn't reviewed, or why CBJ didn't object to the call before running a play. This obviously would have changed the game.

4) Receivers must be tougher. I mentioned this last week, but I must say it again. Our receivers are extremely talented, and obviously still young. Our receiver must learn how to catch a contested pass. I know that they can't catch them all, but it seems like they lose almost every battle for the ball.

5) Play-calling. We as fans are piling on the play-calling decisions. I agree that there are moments when I could call better situational offensive plays, but as a whole, it was improved. If it continues to improve, then maybe we should just let it play out. There is probably more going than meets the eye regarding many of these decisions. Benefit of the doubt is required. :dunno:
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#3) In college it is where the ball is, not the player. If the ball doesn't touch the end zone it is considered out. With that said, it appeared that it was close enough to touching to warrant a closer look on replay.
 
#5
#5
I also disagree on #1. Defense was worn out. I would do everything in my power to not give the ball back to Gurley. All they needed was a first down and the game's over. I have no problems with the onside kick decision, but the fake to the other side of the field was dumb.
 
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#6
#6
You had to kick onside kick the way Gurley was running the ball. One first down and game is over
 
#8
#8
I agreed with the onside kick call but the execution was pitiful. Granted it's a tough play, but their running game was just not stoppable late in the game. Our best chance was to regain possession. It's easy to bash the call now because it's hindsight - but the coaches made the right call on that one given the chances.
 
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#9
#9
BJWeeks said:
You had to kick onside kick the way Gurley was running the ball. One first down and game is over
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Exactamundo! Not sure about switching sides of the field to kick it to, but SO IT GOES! Just kind of surprised Richt didn't try for more points!
 
#10
#10
Eh it is what it is. You don't recover it and it was a mistake, you recover it and set up a game winning drive you're a genius.
 
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#11
#11
Onside kick was absolutely right decision for anybody that was paying attention to the game in the 2nd half. All a failed onside kick costs you is field position. UGA is trying to run the clock out, not score. Who cares about field position?!? Gurley and their OL was giving it to our worn out front 7 and even with 3 time-outs all they really needed was 1 first down. You used a percentage for the onside kick. How about with the way the game was going we had maybe a 10% or less chance of stopping 3 straight Gurley runs for less than 10 yards.
 
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#14
#14
therickbol said:
Onside kick was absolutely right decision for anybody that was paying attention to the game in the 2nd half. All a failed onside kick costs you is field position. UGA is trying to run the clock out, not score. Who cares about field position?!? Gurley and their OL was giving it to our worn out front 7 and even with 3 time-outs all they really needed was 1 first down. You used a percentage for the onside kick. How about with the way the game was going we had maybe a 10% or less chance of stopping 3 straight Gurley runs for less than 10 yards.
Click to expand...

Read the OP's first bullet point again. If you were paying as much attention to the second half as you claim to, you would understand the OP is correct. After Georgia recovered, they got a first down on two runs by Gurley. The UT defense then held them on three downs. Had we kicked deep, Richt doesn't chance the 4th down conversion attempt, because we would already be on the edge of field goal range. Since we kicked onside, they were on the plus side of the field, and there was no risk in going on 4th down. Rather than kick, they convert on 4th down, and the clock runs out. Kicking deep would have gotten us the ball back with around 30-35 seconds left and no timeouts. Still a tough scenario, but asking the defense to keep Gurley from gaining 10 yards on 4 attempts is a tough ask. So the answer to your question of who cares about field position would be anyone who was paying attention to the game. Personally, with three timeouts, I hate seeing a team kick onside with two minutes or more left as much as I hate seeing a squib kick with a lead. Hopefully we end this streak with Florida this week, and the Georgia streak ends in Neyland next year. The next couple seasons, Neyland will be a place that streaks go to die.
 
#16
#16
fade route said:
I also disagree on #1. Defense was worn out. I would do everything in my power to not give the ball back to Gurley. All they needed was a first down and the game's over. I have no problems with the onside kick decision, but the fake to the other side of the field was dumb.
Click to expand...

This. Getting the ball again was more important than where we might have ended up getting it with little time left on the clock. You don't want to give it back to Gurley as well as he was running in the 4th quarter.
 
#17
#17
fade route said:
I also disagree on #1. Defense was worn out. I would do everything in my power to not give the ball back to Gurley. All they needed was a first down and the game's over. I have no problems with the onside kick decision, but the fake to the other side of the field was dumb.
Click to expand...

Yep. There was a reason the defense started giving up massive yards in the 4th quarter. They were gassed. Up until that point they did a nice job on Gurley.
 
#18
#18
therickbol said:
Onside kick was absolutely right decision for anybody that was paying attention to the game in the 2nd half. All a failed onside kick costs you is field position. UGA is trying to run the clock out, not score. Who cares about field position?!? Gurley and their OL was giving it to our worn out front 7 and even with 3 time-outs all they really needed was 1 first down. You used a percentage for the onside kick. How about with the way the game was going we had maybe a 10% or less chance of stopping 3 straight Gurley runs for less than 10 yards.
Click to expand...

But we did stop Gurly on 3 downs... He used the 4th down to get the 1st down. Stopping Gurly in a 3-down situation was probable when there was 0% chance for a pass. In that situation... You kick it deep.
 
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#20
#20
not wrong decision on the onside, but I believe the camera caught CBJ yelling "Kick the D@#% ball!!!" Kicker didn't give us a chance by dribbling it 7-8 yards.
 
#21
#21
Crazy Ivan said:
This. Getting the ball again was more important than where we might have ended up getting it with little time left on the clock. You don't want to give it back to Gurley as well as he was running in the 4th quarter.
Click to expand...

This is what Butch said in his postgame with Kesling. He felt like UGA had found a rhythm running the ball and didn't want to guarantee them the ball. An onside kick may only be successful 20% of the time but kicking it deep is 100% "successful".
 
#24
#24
Hey, I love this team and was very proud of them today and all season...I'm completely supportive of Butch and the team. Having said that, everyone who is saying that the onside kick was the right decision because we couldn't stop Gurley must have forgotten that we DID stop him and forced a 4th down.....if that happened at the UGA 25 yard line instead of our side of the field, then UGA has to punt and we get the ball back around our 30 yard line with 45 seconds just needing a field goal to tie. The onside kick was a bad decision, period.
 
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