{"id":218798,"date":"2025-10-12T09:09:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T09:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/218798\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T09:09:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T09:09:07","slug":"officials-overturn-timeout-without-penalty-after-kirby-smart-claims-refs-mistook-clapping-motion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/218798\/","title":{"rendered":"Officials overturn timeout without penalty after Kirby Smart claims refs mistook clapping motion"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is more controversy in a game between Auburn<\/a> and Georgia<\/a>. Officials halted the game as the play clock was winding down on a third-and-9 for the Bulldogs, seemingly ready to grant Kirby Smart<\/a> a timeout.<\/p>\n

Only Smart seemed to argue that he was simply clapping<\/a>, not signaling for a timeout. Somehow, the officials seemed to think that\u2019s what happened.<\/p>\n

UPDATE: Kirby Smart clarifies \u2018clapping\u2019 plea to refs which led to controversial timeout decision<\/a><\/p>\n

The result was that Georgia essentially worked its way out of either a false start or a guaranteed delay of game penalty, as the officials reset the play clock following the snafu. Georgia was not charged a timeout.<\/p>\n

Auburn coach Hugh Freeze<\/a> was absolutely livid on the sideline. He pleaded with officials, pointing to the scoreboard that was showing Kirby Smart on the sideline signaling. But to no avail.<\/p>\n

The broadcast crew, for the second time in the game, was absolutely stunned watching the sequence unfold. Sean McDonough broke in with the call.<\/p>\n

\u201cTimeout called by Georgia. Kirby Smart\u2019s trying to say I didn\u2019t want the timeout,\u201d McDonough said. \u201cWell, you know, can they let him get away with this? Because the play clock was at one when they stopped it. He\u2019s signaling for a timeout. He\u2019s signaling for a timeout. The officials stop the play. There\u2019s one second on the play clock, so they\u2019re going to give them a redo and not charge him the timeout?\u201d<\/p>\n

Analyst Greg McElroy<\/a> chimed in saying he\u2019d never seen that happen before. Then he went in on the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could see him signaling the timeout. I don\u2019t understand,\u201d McElroy said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m sure Hugh Freeze very frustrated by it. It looked pretty clear to me. That\u2019s not going to make a very loud clap if you try to just put your fingers into the palm of your hand. I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s going to pierce the noise. Might have gotten away with one there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, though, Auburn caught a break following the Kirby Smart ordeal. The drive ended in a missed field goal by Georgia\u2019s Peyton Woodring<\/a>, so the lead held at 13-10 Georgia as the fourth quarter continued. And the timeout snafu proved costly only in the sense that it burned some additional clock.<\/p>\n

Controversy over goal line fumble<\/p>\n

The final two minutes of the first half between Auburn<\/a> and Georgia<\/a> lasted a seeming eternity following a highly controversial fumble call at the goal line. And coach Hugh Freeze<\/a> did everything in his power not to earn himself a fine during a halftime interview.<\/p>\n

The controversy in question happened when Jackson Arnold attempted to take a quarterback sneak in<\/a> for a score. He fumbled, seemingly after he had crossed the plane of the goal line.<\/p>\n

But officials ruled it a fumble live, then upheld the ruling on a replay review. Kirby Smart and his team took possession. Freeze was livid.<\/p>\n

ABC sideline reporter Molly McGrath asked the Auburn coach what the officials told him about the call on the field. Freeze was seething.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no clue,\u201d he said, trying to maintain his composure. \u201cI think it\u2019s \u2026 our kids have played really hard, really well. We should be up more. We dominated the first half.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGrath followed up by asking what he would tell his players in the locker room. That\u2019s when Freeze began to question the officiating a bit.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, good, keep playing, man,\u201d Freeze said. \u201cI mean there\u2019s more stoppages, more, I mean it\u2019s \u2026 that may have been the longest half of football ever. I don\u2019t know how many timeouts Georgia got with all the stoppages. Don\u2019t have no clue how that doesn\u2019t break the plane. No clue. We\u2019re due a break, maybe, one of these damn times.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is more controversy in a game between Auburn and Georgia. Officials halted the game as the play…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-218798","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}