Georgia coach Kirby Smart appeared to call a timeout but then convinced officials he did not, resulting in a ‘do-over.’
The incident highlights recent questionable officiating calls within the SEC.
Officials gave Georgia back its timeout and reset the play clock, a decision the article calls a ‘charade.’
There’s something going on with this Kirby Kerfuffle, and we should be annoyed as all get out.
The only person talking is Georgia coach Kirby Smart, who just happens to be the center of the controversy. Or charade.
A sleight of hand in Georgia’s 20-10 victory over Auburn last weekend has underscored a rash of questionable officiating in the SEC, while at the same time revealing an unspoken power structure within college football’s biggest, baddest conference.
True or not, believe it or not, it sure looks like the best coach in college football has his own set of rules.
“I talked to no one, SEC office-wise,” Smart said Monday, two days after the scene of the crime, uh, kerfuffle. “I stand by what I talked about after the game.”
Yeah, well, we all have eyes, Kirby. You can’t tell us what we saw.
The kerfuffle, I mean charade, recap: Georgia leads Auburn 13-10 early in the fourth quarter when facing a 3rd-and-9 from the Auburn 28. The play clock is winding down, and Smart sprints to the side judge — clearly calling timeout by using one pointed hand pushed into the other open hand, and saying what looks like, “stop!”
The SEC official then gives Smart a timeout, and all hell breaks loose.
Smart starts screaming at the official, declaring he didn’t call timeout — but that he was clapping his hands in response to what he believed was an Auburn defender clapping his hands in an effort to use disconcerting signals to get Georgia to false start in one of the loudest stadiums in college football.
Got all that? Wait, it gets better.
So after video evidence clearly shows Smart calling timeout, he convinces the SEC officiating crew he wasn’t calling timeout, and that he reminded those same officials before the game Auburn players have used disconcerting signals before. So, you know, get your stuff together.
What do the officials do, you ask? Capitulate to the greatest coach in college football, of course.
And call a do-over.
A flipping do-over at the highest level of college football, where every play may as well be life and death. Officials then not only agree with Smart, they retroactively give him back the precious timeout, and — are you ready for this? — start the play clock over at 25 seconds.
This isn’t rocket science, everyone. It’s either a timeout, or a penalty on Georgia for delay of game.
There’s no gray area like the other questionable call in the game, where what looked like an Auburn touchdown at the goal line was ruled a fumble. That kerfuffle can be easily eliminated by saying there’s not enough evidence to change the call on the field.
But a do-over is a completely different animal.
The coach who should’ve been screaming during the charade is Auburn’s Hugh Freeze. But instead of Coach Eeyore demanding an explanation from the referee — or demanding collaborative replay look at actual video evidence of Smart calling timeout — Freeze stands on the other sideline and takes it.
“We find ways to not win football games,” Freeze would later say.
A quick aside: Auburn isn’t paying Freeze $6.7 million annually to just take it. (Dear, Aubie: just pay the $15,437,500 walkaway money and be done with this nonsense).
But here’s the best part: it looks like everybody just took it — despite the obvious video evidence. Smart tantrums, and an important game that could eventually be the difference between who plays in the SEC championship game and who doesn’t, reverts to a do-over.
A do-over. From the conference that runs college football.
There’s no way to explain it. Either Smart called a timeout — like the official clearly saw and called — or he didn’t. There’s no damn do-over.
There was, however, the classic makeup call ON THE VERY NEXT PLAY.
Officials flagged Georgia running back Cash Jones with a personal foul for an illegal block on Auburn linebacker Bryce Deas. And if you think that block was illegal, I’ve got some pristine beachfront property for you in Lee County, Alabama.
Georgia eventually missed a field goal on the drive, but that doesn’t eliminate what we all saw. Despite what Smart said immediately after the game, while trying to explain why he called timeout. I mean, didn’t call timeout.
“Go lip read, because I’m screaming, ‘They’re clapping!’” Smart said. “I didn’t need a timeout because we were going to get it off before the shot clock. It was two, one. It was the fact that they were clapping. I wanted him to call it because it’s a penalty.”
I don’t even know what to say here, ladies and gentlemen. This is the point where you’re so good at what you do, when you’ve reached the top of your profession, and you can pretty much say and do whatever you want on a football field during 60 highly-competitive and massively intense minutes.
And get away with it.
What’s the SEC going to do, admit their officials were wrong again? They already had to publicly apologize to — wait for it — Auburn when Oklahoma used a sleight of hand to keep wide receiver Isaiah Sategna III on the field while standing at the sideline, looking like he wasn’t part of the play. A disconcerting formation, no less.
Seconds later, Sategna was uncovered and scored on a 24-yard touchdown pass from John Mateer in a game OU won by seven points. So the SEC suspended the crew for a game, and delivered the apology.
But this kerfuffle is different. Georgia won by 10, so let’s just make like it never really happened. Sort of like what Smart did.
It is here where I give you the kicker to this masterpiece of a controversy. I mean, charade.
Georgia informed the SEC office Sunday that Auburn had someone in the front row of the stands blowing a whistle during the first drive of the game. A disconcerting whistle, no less.
Because, you know, these games need to be fair.
No matter what your eyes see.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.