Rece Davis speculates what led to Kirby Smart timeout controversy

Kirby Smart found himself at the center of another controversial call by SEC referees. The veteran Georgia head coach was seemingly gifted a timeout without one actually being called, at least from the perspective of the league officials in last Saturday’s game in Auburn.

With 13 minutes left in the game and the Bulldogs nursing a 13-10 lead over the host Tigers, ABC cameras caught Smart sprinting toward a sideline referee while his hands rapidly made a T-formation — the universal sign for a timeout. The SEC official quickly blew his whistle to grant Smart a timeout. Except, Smart quickly changed course and successfully argued he was actually clapping, including at one point vigorously clapping his hands in the face of the official, while trying to inform them that Auburn safety AnQuon Fegans was illegally trying to simulate the offensive snap, which is a 5-yard penalty.

After several confusing moments, SEC officials ruled it an official stoppage and restarted the play. ABC broadcasters Sean McDonough and Greg McElroy immediately ridiculed the call, and SEC fans at large took to social media to question the integrity of the league officials.

Several days later, ESPN College GameDay host Rece Davis suggested Smart’s actions were more than likely a simple error made in the fog of war.

“Now multiple things are true about this. No. 1, … Auburn was clapping, and it’s against the rules, so Kirby was right about that. My sense of it is that Kirby sort of flipped out for a second, lost contact with the mothership, and was like ‘Wait, they can’t clap!’ and inadvertently – he didn’t really want a timeout, there was no reason for him to want a timeout there,” Davis said on Wednesday’s episode of the College GameDay Podcast with ESPN insider Pete Thamel. “So he’s running up and he’s (thinking) ‘Timeout, they can’t clap’ and then realized ‘no, no, they’re clapping,’ (but) he should’ve been charged with a timeout. There’s no question about that.

“I don’t doubt that he didn’t really want one. That he was just mad they were clapping. But you’ve got to be charged with one because you called it,” Davis continued. “And for them not to do it is just another egregious error. Look, you can make errors all day long in officiating; we make them on TV. … Nobody is saying the officials have to be perfect. … (But) misapplication of the rules, that’s the primary reason you’re there. If not, we’ll just call our own fouls. You’re there to make sure the rules are not misapplied.”

Davis and Thamel then rattled off several of these “egregious” calls, including the missed call on Oklahoma’s trick play touchdown in a 24-17 win over Auburn that SEC officials later deemed “unfair tactics” as part of a public apology. Thamel also mentioned the controversial free-kick punt in the Missouri–Kansas game that led to suspensions for the offending Big 12 crew.