Georgia Bulldogs HC Kirby Smart’s 1 shocking benching of star player defined the loss to Alabama Crimson Tide
Nate Frazier cost Georgia the game and was benched accordingly
Kirby Smart is now 1-7 against Alabama following Georgia’s tough 24-21 loss on Saturday. He addressed how horrible the team played on third down, among other failures, after the game, but the loss ended up coming down to one play that flipped the script early in the contest.
Running back Nate Frazier’s critical fumble in the second quarter deep inside Georgia territory took a one-possession game and handed Alabama a free three points. The Tide went up 17-7, and those three points were the difference in the game. Following that failure, Frazier was basically benched, seeing exactly zero touches for the rest of the game.
Nate Frazier benched following game-changing fumble for Georgia
This isn’t the first time Frazier has struggled with fumbles, but it’s certainly becoming a trend at this point. As a freshman, the talented Frazier fumbled three times, all three of them coming in a five-game span. This year, he’s already fumbled twice in four games played — and this time, it directly led to Georgia’s loss.
Alabama jumped out to an early 14-0 lead after putting together drives of 74 and 83 yards against Georgia to open the game. Georgia quickly answered with a score of its own and followed that up with a fast stop of Alabama on the next drive. Momentum was shifting towards the Bulldogs.
Frazier had already made a few good plays, racking up 28 yards on his first three carries of the game. Unfortunately, Frazier then coughed the ball up after safety Bray Hubbard hit him on his fourth touch of the game.
Frazier, despite being the clear starter, averaging about 30 snaps per game this year, was effectively benched following the fumble, finishing the contest with just eight total snaps and zero touches.
Smart was asked about it after the game and tried to play it off like this benching had more to do with other running backs having the “hot hand,” but this was clearly a punishment:
“It’s not his first [fumble]. It’s nothing that he’s doing technically wrong. He’s got to hang on to the ball, and that comes with confidence. It comes with confidence and how you practice. You’ve got to practice it. You’ve got to have confidence and show it. And it was more about Chauncey [Bowens] being the hot back more than it was anything Nate was doing.”
Kirby Smart extremely high on talents of running back Chauncey Bowens
Ultimately, there were many more problems than just Frazier’s fumble that contributed to Georgia’s loss, but that’s an issue that needs to be addressed. Otherwise, Chauncey Bowens will steal Frazier’s job. The good news is that Georgia clearly has a talented running back in Bowens who can step up even when Frazier’s getting the fumble yips again. When asked about Bowens during postgame, Smart couldn’t stop raving about him:
“Man, [Chauncey Bowens] ran hard. He ran physical. He got yards after contact. He protected the ball. He was tough. He’s getting better with his pass pro and catching the ball. I was proud of the way he ran. But you know, it’s not all him. There was a lot of good run scheme in that game that helped us run the ball.”
Chauncey was the lone star of the game for the Georgia Bulldogs. The second-year running back looked extremely fast, played strongly, and racked up 141 yards from scrimmage on 16 touches. Regardless of how Frazier’s fumbling problems play out, Bowens has likely earned a permanently expanded role in this offense following such an impressive performance. We’ll see how the running back room shakes out moving forward, but ball security has to be fixed. It can ultimately cost Georgia games, and it most definitely did on Saturday.
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