Kirby Smart Offered Surprising Take On Whether Notre Dame Faked Injuries
Kirby Smart Offered Surprising Take On Whether Notre Dame Faked Injuries
Kirby Smart Offered Surprising Take On Whether Notre Dame Faked Injuries
Kirby Smart offered a surprising take on whether Notre Dame faked injuries during last Saturday’s game.
Smart, the head coach of Georgia, spoke to reporters this week regarding a myriad of topics.
One of the things he was asked about almost immediately is whether he believed The Fighting Irish faked injuries against his squad during the pair’s showdown last week.
“No one my opinion does not matter whether I think they did or they didn’t,” he replied.
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“It has no bearing whatsoever, so I don’t think I even need to answer that question, but whether it goes on in college football or not, sure I think it goes on.”
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The controversy regarding fake injuries initially erupted when people on Twitter who were watching the game noticed something odd about a couple of injured Notre Dame players.
On one particular sequence, just as the Georgia defense lined up deep in its own territory, safety Alohi Gilman appeared to direct linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah to go to the ground.
After the game, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly addressed the matter.
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“Owusu was evaluated for a concussion. He was brought to the tent,” Kelly said.
“So, that’s hard to be booing at a young man who suffered an evaluation for a concussion.
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“Quite honestly, Georgia doesn’t play very fast, so I found that to be quite interesting there would be a number of questions on something like that.”
When pressed on Asmar Bilal’s injury, Kelly was similarly dismissive of the accusations.
“Then the other one (Bilal) was cramping. Again, it’s a non-issue. It happens in college football all of the time.
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“Guys go down and they’ve got to be administered to. I’ve seen games against us where there have been many, many more, so I’m not even sure why you’re asking the question,” Kelly said.
Georgia ended up winning the game despite the controversy 23-17.
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He connected on all three of his field goal attempts and hit both extra points in a win over Notre Dame.
Georgia kicker Rodrigo Blankenship named SEC Special Teams Player of the Week. #RespectTheSpecs pic.twitter.com/g5V810E1Ik
— UGA Football Live (@UGAfootballLive) September 23, 2019
Although the Bulldogs came away with the win, many were impressed with the fight Notre Dame put up against a legitimate SEC powerhouse.
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“Maybe it got a little too big at times for them,” Paul Finebaum said after the fact.
“But what they did at the end of the game in the second half I thought was significant.
“I’m like a lot of people, I didn’t think it’d be close and I came away really impressed with Notre Dame.”
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The praise did not stop there, though.
“They really put up an incredibly challenging and respectful fight,” Finebaum continued.
“I give them credit for playing games like this because they don’t play a conference schedule and they don’t play in a conference championship game.”
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The Fighting Irish dropped from No. 7 to No. 10 in the AP rankings following the loss.
Next up Notre Dame will face off against No. 18 Virginia on Sept. 28.
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Georgia, meanwhile, gets a bit of a break after this big win.
The Bulldogs’ next game will be in two weeks, on Oct. 5, when they take on an absolute mess of Tennessee squad on the road.
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A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
