2 seemingly meaningless Georgia penalties allowed Tennessee’s game-winning Hail Mary

Georgia-Tennessee was a masterpiece, a thriller with a climax of brilliant plays and bewildered fans. Georgia scored on a 50-yard TD pass with 10 seconds left that seemed to cement the game. But Tennessee answered back with a Hail Mary with the clock at zeroes.

But Tennessee probably shouldn’t have been in range to score in the first place. A pair of flags on Georgia gave Tennessee 20 free yards, putting the Vols in range to complete the timeless toss.

1. There was an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after that TD

TV cameras didn’t capture exactly what drew the referees’ ire. Maybe it was an example of refs overzealously penalizing players who were reasonably celebrating one of the greatest plays they’ll ever be a part of. Maybe 15 Georgia players decided to do the D-Generation X crotch chop in a Tennessee player’s face.

I don’t know — we didn’t see it.

But whatever they did, it was costly. With only a few plays left in the game, their celebration pushed Georgia’s kickoff back. Instead of kicking from the 35, they kicked from the 20. Rodrigo Blankenship’s kickoff would’ve been down to the 5-yard-line if not for the penalty. Instead it went to the 20, and it was returned to the 43.

2. Georgia was offside on the kickoff

And offside by quite a bit:

There’s no good reason to be offside here. The Dawgs weren’t trying to recover an onside kick. Their coverage unit could afford to wait an extra quarter-second for their kicker to kick the ball before crossing the restraining line.

That gave Tennessee another five yards, pushing the ball from the 43 to the 48. Josh Dobbs would need to put slightly less yardage on his last-ditch Hail Mary.

Of course they did. Let’s watch it again:

Look at where Jauan Jennings makes that catch. About 4-ish yards deep in the end zone, right?

Perhaps Dobbs would’ve had the arm to make this throw from 5 yards farther downfield. But it would’ve had to be at a lower angle, and therefore would’ve probably been a tad easier for a Georgia defender to swat.

But Dobbs definitely wouldn’t have had the arm to make this throw from 20 yards farther downfield. He’s great, but he can’t throw the ball 70-plus yards on the fly.

Georgia’s afterthought penalties helped give Tennessee the game. Football’s the sport of butterfly effects, a missed extra point from the first half forcing a team to go for 2 late and lose, a punt instead of a 4th-down conversion leaving a team in need of points late.

After their miracle TD, the Dawgs probably thought a few yards wouldn’t mean much. But the seemingly harmless calls meant everything.