There were countless controversial moments that occurred during Georgia's win over Auburn Saturday night. One of the plays that stood out the most that fans have been passionately discussing was the timeout controversy that involved Kirby Smart.
During the start of the fourth quarter with Georgia facing a key third down in Auburn territory, the play clock was dwindling down and it looked like UGA was going to be flagged for delay of game. That is when an official blew the play dead claiming Smart called a timeout. Instead of going into a huddle, Smart exploded because he said he did not call a timeout and that he was just clapping.
The officials agreed with Smart which saved Georgia their second timeout of the half and a five yard penalty. Social media erupted after this play as fans thought Smart lied about not calling a timeout, but Smart explained exactly what happened during his postgame press conference.
"Yeah, they're clapping," Smart shared via 247sports.com. "So I told him before the game, if these guys clap, it's a penalty. They can't clap because it will fault snap. I've lost games on that before in the stadium. And I told him I said they clap. I want to tell you, I got somebody in the box watching every play. They were clapping. So I ran over to him and said they're clapping. They're clapping. And he thought I called timeout. And so I wanted to make sure he understood. Go lip read, because I'm screaming, they're clapping."
Kirby Smart explains that he did not call a timeout during 4th quarter controversy
This explanation sounds a little too convenient based on the situation, but other camera angles show Smart is telling the truth. With about four seconds left on the play clock, an Auburn safety was seen clapping his hands repeatedly. This action is against the rules because it can trigger the offense to snap the ball when the quarterback isn't ready and never asked for it.
Smart explained that this is something Auburn's defense does quite often and that he even warned the officials about it ahead of the game. Unfortuntaely the refs did not see Auburn's safety doing this, but they gave the benefit of the doubt to Smart when he said he was yelling at them because of the Auburn defender clapping.
College football fans around the country still aren't believing Smart even after this explanation, but at the end of the day it doesn't really matter. Smart didn't do anything wrong, and Auburn fans are just going to have to live with the fact that this call went Georgia's way and there is nothing they can do about it.