What a college football player’s walk-in touchdown shows about building great organizations
We’re nearing the end of the 2022–2023 College Football season. Just like any other season, there were upsets, crazy plays, and straight up heroics by individual players across over a hundred colleges and universities. But as the dust settles, out of the four schools competing in the post-season playoff, the reigning national champion, the University of Georgia Bulldogs, are the overwhelming betting favorite to win it all.
The Bulldogs have good players. But they are a great team. In this short read, I want to share just one short play over this long season that demonstrates why the Bulldogs are great. This moment is simply that illustrative of what a great organization looks like and how it is run.
Here’s the backdrop: at the end of November, the University of Georgia Bulldogs played Louisiana State University for the Southeastern Conference’s football championship.
As the New York Times reports:
With less than four minutes to play in the first quarter, №14 L.S.U. was looking for the afternoon’s inaugural score. The Tigers lined up for a 32-yard field goal, only to see it blocked by Nazir Stackhouse, a towering defensive lineman. The ball rolled toward Chris Smith, a senior from Atlanta.
He paused. He peered around, seemingly as confused as a newcomer (or, let’s be fair, a native) trying to figure out which Atlanta street named “Peachtree” he needed to drive.
He was not confused.
While all of the opposing team players milled around, thinking the play had ended, Smith picked up the ball and ran the whole length of the football field. Ignored by the opposing team, he ran straight into LSU’s endzone. Scoring a touchdown.
If you are completely bewildered by how American football is played and are puzzled by the description of what occurred, let me explain. One of the ways for a team to score is to move the football into the opposing team’s endzone for a “touchdown.” This is difficult, because their opponent is supposed to prevent this from happening (duh!). But Christopher Smith jogged straight in for the points simply because no one on the opposing team realized the game was live, and that he could score.
Usually, an onlooker may think: huh, this player just somehow knew the obscure rule and then proceeded to act quickly on instinct.
Not the case. After the game, Christopher explains to the press that this was a specific situation the team went over time and time again. The team ran drills on situations like it every few weeks just to keep their minds fresh about the rule.
They did it just in case. Because every edge mattered. Scoring in that situation could have meant the difference between winning and losing.
That’s discipline. That’s the hallmark of a great organization. The Bulldogs coach, Kirby Smart, trained his players so well that they were prepared for any situation, as inconceivable as it might be. Including that.
Now, post-game press conferences are boring formalities where coaches discuss plays in-depth, crack dad-jokes, and occasionally use a lot of words to say nothing at all. These press interviews are only followed the most committed of sports fans.
But anyone who’s a football fan SHOULD absolutely watch the SEC championship press conference by Kirby Smart and his players. If you want to know what a great organization looks like, you can get a window through listening to this interview.
There’s an old Chinese proverb: “Behind one spectacular minute on stage, is ten years of hard work off the stage.” Kirby’s interview shows exactly the grit and hard work he and his team put in to be where they are right now. It is an absolute master class on what it means to build a championship organization.