You're right maybe one day Key will learn to slip that money bag to the refs in the 4th quarter.
Give me a break! Smart got out coached by Key up and down the field this game! The whole world saw that the refs gave the game to ugag! It is all over social media from random sports media to other SEC team fans and even Roddy White calling out the clear biased officiating in the 4th quarter! I feel we get hosed by refs all the time but it has never been this bad and I have never seen so many non-Tech and even anti-Tech people calling it out like this!
You're right. Smart did get outcoached (a LOT) by Key...for 3.5 quarters. Last I checked, a game is 4 quarters and whatever else comes after until the last whistle is blown. Were there some egregious calls? Yes, debatable fumble, tipped passed that should have negated the endzone PI call, and a holding penalty that our DL was clearly horsecollared...amongst some others. However, you're the visiting team going into hostile SEC school, did you really expect any different? Those are things beyond Key's control. What you can do is coach the things you can control. For instance:
1. Our blitzes were beautiful, until they weren't. At some point, you have to mix up your blitzes, or UGA adjusts and burns you on them. Which they did. One thing they did was release Cash Jones to relieve pressure on blitzes...and Jones destroyed us. My job isn't to review UGA film, GT has an entire staff that does that. I have watched some UGA games, and if Jones is in the game, it's because they're going to release him from the backfield to help Beck. He's not in there to run the ball. Teams that are successful, DO NOT let Jones free release out of the backfield. You blow him up in the backfield to disrupt the timing, or make sure you have someone on his hip. Too many times whoever did pick him up was caught between two ideas, and picked the wrong idea. You know how you prevent that? BLOW HIM UP IN THE BACKFIELD where it's legal to stick your helmet in his chest.
2. If you're in OT, you know it's eventually going to 2 pt conversions. Why not settle it in the first OT and attempt a two point conversion when your QB and OL will be the freshest they will be for the remainder of the game? (More on this later) It also doesn't give UGA a chance if you're successful. If we were unsuccessful, I would have been disappointed, but I also understand that GT's probability on that 2 point conversion would have been higher than any other attempt afterwards given the health of our QB, and the tired legs of our defense and offense. We were also playing well on offense and still had UGA's defense on their heels.
3. This is kind of in the same vein as our blitzes...run it until the other team adjust, then you change it up. You know what one play we NEVER ran in OT or during the 2 pt attempt OT period? The RPO to the TE that worked EVERY time during regulation. It also gives you a higher chance for success since it would have been using two of your best weapons: King's legs AND his arm. If the TE wasn't open, King would have had green in front of him to run. Does anyone really think King doesn't pick up 3+ yards to the end zone with green in front of him? Alas, we never went back to it and UGA never had an answer for it when did run it.
4. IMO, this point is where Key's short time as a HC and understanding overtime rules needs maturation that Smart had over Key. Back to keeping our players fresh from point 2 above, why are we keeping timeouts in our pockets during the 2 pt attempt period? Those timeouts renew every attempt. The announcers kept saying Kirby used the timeouts during that period to see how GT was lining up. Part of that may have been true, but another thing those timeouts did was give his defense a breather. Our offense was gassing them...but UGA's offense was gassing us as well. Why not give our defense, which would have to defend attempts back to back, an extra breather? IMO, keeping those timeouts were a disservice to our defense in keeping them fresh.
I was watching this game with some UGA buddies. Several told me "Nice win" after our TD in the 4th qtr to put us up 14 pts. I told them, "Ya'll haven't been watching GT this season...we tend to brain cramp at the end of games." Lo and behold. Let's not act like we haven't almost screwed up wins several times this season. Several of our wins could have easily have been losses because we have problems putting teams away.
I think Key will be a fabulous coach. I see MANY UGA wins for us under Key. I was one of the few making the argument to hire Key and defending the choice of hiring Key permanently when he was the interim. However, he hasn't been a HC for long, and some of that inexperience shows up from time to time.
