Kirk Herbstreit, Joey Galloway defend controversial Kirby Smart 4th down decision vs. Alabama

Trailing by three just 1 1/2 minutes into the fourth quarter Saturday, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart opted to try and run tempo on a fourth-and-1 situation from the Alabama 8-yard-line. The decision failed spectacularly as Bulldogs running back Cash Jones was blown up in the backfield by Crimson Tide defensive end LT Overton for a 3-yard loss, resulting in a turnover on downs.

The rest, as they say, is history as Alabama held on for the well-earned 24-21 road victory inside Sanford Stadium, securing its 10th win over its last 11 games between the two SEC superpowers.

In the hours and days since, Smart has faced criticism from both fans — even his own — and college football experts alike, many of which have questioned why Georgia didn’t just opt for a chip-shot field goal that would’ve tied the game at 24-all early in the fourth quarter.

Of course, not everyone disagreed with the decision, including ESPN analysts Kirk Herbstreit and Joey Galloway.

Kirk Herbstreit: ‘You have to give the guy credit, he blew it up’

“I wouldn’t say surprised that they didn’t try to tie it. I feel like in today’s world, with all our analytics, you have people that have let the analytics start coaching football teams,” Galloway said during this week’s Nonstop podcast. “Understand, … in that situation, which I’m 100-percent sure Kirby Smart and Georgia have been in and practiced (a ton). … (So) Kirby Smart deciding to go for it (there) is perfectly fine with me. They had the momentum, they’re moving the ball.”

Herbstreit, who called the game on ABC with Chris Fowler, was in full agreement, and even suggested the play was so well designed that if Georgia true freshman right tackle Juan Gaston successfully blocks Overton off the edge, it’s a walk-in touchdown for Jones and the Bulldogs.

“I probably would have done the same thing,” Herbstreit said with the caveat that he would’ve expected Georgia to truly run tempo and snap the ball as quickly as possible to keep Alabama on their heels. “I loved the concept, Mike Bobo, the OC, I think it was perfectly designed, but it was just a true freshman trying to make a block against a veteran that’s been around. And you have to give (Overton) credit, he blew it up. And not only does he blow up the block, he makes that play on the edge to prevent it from being a first down.”

It was obviously a pivotal moment in the game, and with momentum on Georgia’s side at the time, the call to go for it made a lot of football sense. But given the end result, the postgame second-guessing is also to be expected.