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Georgia tried to do their best Les Miles — in Tiger Stadium no less

This was best exemplified when Smart got a little too smart with a fake field goal on fourth and nine from the LSU 14-yard line in the first quarter.

BATON ROUGE — Les Miles bet on the wrong game.

The former LSU coach had to wear a visor the week after his former Tigers lost on Oct. 6 at Florida, 27-16, because he bet former Florida coach Steve Spurrier. Had Florida lost, Spurrier would have had to eat grass — Miles style. Since Florida won, Miles — aka the "Mad Hatter" — wore a Spurrier-inspired visor, or "half a hat," as Miles called it.

A week later, though, touchdown favorite and No. 2-ranked Georgia and its coach, Kirby Smart, spent most of their afternoon in Tiger Stadium eating grass in a 36-16 loss to LSU last Saturday.

Georgia's running game, which came in No. 1 in the SEC with 245.2 yards a game, left with a season-low 113 yards on 30 carries for a 3.8-yard average. That's a lot of grass in the face.

This was best exemplified when Smart got a little too smart with a fake field goal on fourth and nine from the LSU 14-yard line in the first quarter.

The play started off “hauntingly familiar,” as Stevie Nicks sings in “Edge of Seventeen.”

Georgia holder Jake Camarda took the snap for an apparent 31-yard field goal attempt, but he flipped it perfectly over his shoulder to kicker Rodrigo Blankenship. This was right out of the playbook of Miles, who had holder Matt Flynn flip it over his shoulder to kicker Colt David against South Carolina in Tiger Stadium on Sept. 22, 2007. On the fourth-and-four play, David sprinted 15 yards around end for a touchdown and 21-7 lead with 1:10 to go before halftime.

Spurrier, who had left Florida and was coaching South Carolina then, was so impressed, he acknowledged Miles with a tip of the visor after the play as if to say, "You got me." LSU won 28-16 and went on to win its last national championship.

No. 2 Georgia, which is — or was — expected to contend for this season's national championship after winning the SEC and reaching the national title game last season, faced a fourth-and-nine situation from nearly the exact same spot — the LSU 14-yard line while trailing 3-0. Smart thought he had the numbers.

MORE: LSU just muzzled Georgia on both ends

“They were like 15 of 17 with a look that it would work on, and it was a look that we wanted,” Smart said. “We thought it was going to be perfect. They had one guy up there that we were going to block. One of their guys ended up not rushing, and he rushed every other time. He fell into the play and made it.”

I wouldn’t say “fell,” Coach Smarty Pants.

The “guy” was LSU safety Grant Delpit, who stayed home, as they say, which means he didn’t bite. He nailed Blankenship into the grass for a 2-yard loss. The Tigers took over at their 16 with a surprising shot of momentum and promptly drove 84 yards in 12 plays to a touchdown and 10-0 lead. The Dogs never really had any more prolonged bite after that as they were never closer than 19-9 for about six minutes into the fourth quarter. Then LSU took control with a touchdown and 26-9 lead and breezed to the 36-16 win.

“Yes, I can definitely see the irony in that situation,” Blankenship said of Georgia’s attempt for momentum that gave LSU momentum. “We had watched a lot of film and saw how they rushed field goals. We thought if they lined up a certain way and brought all their pressure, we were going to go ahead and run it and be aggressive. We wanted to try and do something to get some momentum and take their crowd out of the game.”

That wasn’t going to happen on this day. Tiger Stadium was full at 102,321, and that was an actual crowd as opposed to the tickets sold count.

“When we went out there, they lined up how we hoped they would,” Blankenship said. “And so we decided to call it. It was there. I thought it would be a big moment for us. But they played it differently after the snap, and that’s a credit to them. They were really well prepared for that.”

Apparently, you can't teach a new dog — Smart — and old dog's — Miles' — trick.

Even though, LSU coach Ed Orgeron was taken aback by the call, which is usually half the battle in a fake.

“It surprised me,” Orgeron said. “There were 10 yards to go. It surprised me. But we always have a guy for the fake.”

So maybe LSU’s film actually faked out Georgia.

“We have eyes,” Orgeron said.

So, regardless of what Smart thinks he saw “like 15 of 17” times, that was only a look.

“And when you’re playing for the field goal block, you still have to have your eyes on your man, not on the field goal kicker,” Orgeron said. “Tremendous discipline.”

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Still, Georgia appeared in good shape. It did reach its ill-fated fake by rushing nine times for 69 yards to get to LSU’s 14 with gashes of 18, 17 and 12 yards by tailbacks D’Andre Swift and Elijah Holyfield.

“I didn’t think that was the end of the momentum for us, just that it hurt us at the time,” Smart said.

LSU, however, adjusted its defense for Georgia’s next drive, which ended with a punt after three passes. LSU went up 13-0 on a 36-yard field goal by Cole Tracy, and Georgia punted on its next possession, too, after two runs for six yards and an incomplete pass. LSU went up 16-0 on a 39-yard field goal by Tracy, and Georgia punted for a third consecutive time after three plays — two runs for six yards and an incomplete pass. Georgia ended the first half with yet another punt after garnering one first down on a pass and rushing once for minus-two yards.

“We actually went right back to it (the running game), and it didn’t work. They changed some things up, and it wasn’t working as well,” Smart said.

Holyfield had 56 yards by late in the third quarter after his seventh carry, which was a bulldozing 10-yard touchdown run to get Georgia within 19-9 with :07 remaining in the third quarter. But Holyfield never touched the ball again. Thanks, Kirby, Orgeron may have said.

“I’m not sure. I don’t call the plays,” Holyfield said about his sudden disappearance. He was as flustered as Smart.

“Offensively, we couldn’t get any rhythm, and it’s frustrating,” Smart said.

Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm came in as the SEC’s No. 3 passer in efficiency at 192.5, but he was just 2 of his first 9 for 20 yards before finishing 16 of 34 for 209 yards with a meaningless, late touchdown amid two interceptions and three sacks in the second half. Smart found himself having to defend him.

“All the struggles weren’t his,” he said. “But he’s got to make a decision to get rid of the ball. But we don’t run the right route on one of the sacks. He’s looking for a route, and they don’t run that route. There’s a miscommunication. There’s a lot of pressures they run that are hard to pick up, and I was very concerned with that coming into the game. There were some times where he was looking for a check-down, and it wasn’t there.”

In the end, Georgia did very little other than a good drive here and there and setting a record for most visiting fans in Tiger Stadium. And both got swallowed up in a sea of purple and gold.

The SEC’s No. 1 total defense also allowed a season-high 475 yards, and the Bulldogs lost the turnover battle with four to zero.

Georgia was also a big 0-For on fakes and Les Miles impersonations.

THE GUILBEAU POLL: 1. Alabama (7-0, 4-0). 2. Florida (6-1, 4-1). 3. LSU (6-1, 3-1). 4. Georgia (6-1, 4-1). 5. Texas A&M (5-2, 3-1). 6. Kentucky (5-1, 3-1). 7. Mississippi State (4-2, 1-2) 8. South Carolina (3-3, 2-3). 9. Tennessee (3-3, 1-2). 10. Ole Miss (5-2, 1-2). 11. Auburn (4-3, 1-3). 12. Missouri (3-3, 0-3). 13. Vanderbilt (2-4, 0-3). 14. Arkansas (1-6, 0-4).

THIS WEEK IN THE SEC: Auburn at Ole Miss, 11 a.m., ESPN; Tulsa at Arkansas, 11 a.m., SEC Network; No. 1 Alabama at Tennessee, 2:30 p.m., CBS; Memphis at Missouri, 3 p.m., SEC Network; No. 22 Mississippi State at No. 5 LSU, 6 p.m., ESPN; Vanderbilt at No. 14 Kentucky, 6:30 p.m., SEC Network. Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Texas A&M are open.

LAST WEEK IN THE SEC: Tennessee 30, Auburn 24. Florida 37, Vanderbilt 27. LSU 36, Georgia 16. Texas A&M 26, South Carolina 23. Alabama 39, Missouri 10. Ole Miss 37, Arkansas 33. Mississippi State and Kentucky were open.

STAT OF THE WEEK: Be careful what you wish for LSU fans. You may actually not want the Alabama at LSU game on Nov. 3 in Tiger Stadium to be a night game. The Tigers are 9-4 in home night games in the SEC since 2014, and there was that home loss at night to Troy last year. By day, though, in SEC games since 2010, LSU is 16-1 with the only loss to Florida, 16-10, in 2016. The Tigers' last home win over Alabama was by 24-21 on Nov. 6, 2010, in a day game on CBS. The SEC is expected to announce the kickoff time for the LSU-Alabama game early next week.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "You don't know how much it meant to the team when we came out after halftime, and the stadium was still full. We feed off y'all. Y'all made the difference." — LSU defensive end Rashard Lawrence's tweet @Rashard_99 on LSU's 36-16 win over Georgia Saturday.

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