A game as good as the Sugar Bowl between Ole Miss and Georgia had to have a wild ending. It ended up having three of them.
In one of the more confusing endings to a football game you will ever see, Ole Miss twice celebrated what it thought was the final play of a breakthrough win in the College Football Playoff, only to be told the game hadn’t ended.
Advertisement
In both cases, the crew working the stage for the trophy ceremony had already moved it onto the field, then had to awkwardly remove it as the game played on.
The sequence of events worked out like this.
After a frantic drive that saw Ole Miss reach the Georgia 30-yard line in less than a minute, Ole Miss kicker Lucas Carneiro broke a 34-34 tie with a 47-yard field goal. That appeared to be the game-winner, but six seconds were still left on the clock, so Ole Miss had to kick the ball back to Georgia, opening the door for a miracle for the Bulldogs.
Instead, an attempt at a cross-field lateral resulted into the ball bouncing out of bounds, but not without first hitting the pylon. That made it a safety for Ole Miss, putting the Rebels up five points with one second left. Ole Miss had already been celebrating the win, with quarterback Trinidad Chambliss hugging teammates and several non-players and coaches already running onto the field.
Advertisement
The officials restored order and had Georgia make its free kick, which went 10 yards and then was recovered by Bulldogs running back Cash Jones. However, Ole Miss thought that the final second of the game had still passed and celebrated accordingly, giving head coach Pete Golding a Gatorade bath as the ESPN announcers pronounced the game over.
Nope. The officials ruled there was still one second left on the clock … and Georgia had the ball at its own 31-yard line. ESPN announcer Sean McDonough said the ending felt “excruciating” and asked rules expert Matt Austin, “Does common sense need to prevail here?”
Advertisement
Austin’s response. “Well, yes, but we do have rules we have to follow.”
Ole Miss thought it had won the game. The officials begged to differ, twice. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
(Jamie Squire via Getty Images)
And so Georgia got its last play, completing one forward pass and nine laterals before quarterback Gunner Stockton was slammed to the ground, 80 yards short of the end zone. The game was over, for real this time.
You can watch the whole thing play out below:
The official play-by-play of that final desperation play:
STOCKTON, Gunner pass short to the left complete for 4 yards to YOUNG, Colbie caught at the UGA35 and advanced to the UGA35 lateral to JONES, Cash for 1 yard to the UGA36 lateral to LUCKIE, Lawson for -3 yards to the UGA33 lateral to JONES, Cash for 5 yards to the UGA38 lateral to YOUNG, Colbie for -7 yards to the UGA31 lateral to YOUNG, Colbie for -5 yards to the UGA26 lateral to LUCKIE, Lawson for 7 yards to the UGA33 lateral to JONES, Cash for 13 yards to the UGA46 lateral to YOUNG, Colbie for -14 yards to the UGA32 lateral to LUCKIE, Lawson for 0 yards to the UGA32 lateral to BELL, Dillon for -11 yards to the UGA21 lateral to MADDOX, Adrian for -2 yards to the UGA19 (PERKINS, Suntarine;JONES, Andrew), clock 00:00.
This could have become even more chaotic, but the end result was what everyone expected after Carneiro made his kick. Ole Miss will advance to the semifinal of the College Football Playoff and face Miami. Georgia’s season is over. Rebels head coach Pete Golding is $500,000 richer. So is former head coach Lane Kiffin.
Advertisement
And we saw firsthand just how far officials will go to end a game by the book.
