Kirby Smart falsely claims that Notre Dame’s 11-man substitution in CFP win was illegal

By almost any measurement, Georgia’s Kirby Smart is one of the best coaches in modern college football, if not the best, following the retirement last year of his mentor, Nick Saban.

His knowledge of the game’s rules, though, could apparently use a little work.

Following Georgia’s 23-10 loss to Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl on Thursday, which eliminated the Bulldogs from the College Football Playoff in the event’s quarterfinal round, Smart publicly took exception to what turned out to be one of the game’s most decisive plays.

Facing a fourth-and-1 from its own 18-yard line with a 13-point lead and 7:47 remaining, Notre Dame initially lined up to punt before substituting all 11 players off the field in favor of the team’s offense. Georgia responded, getting its defense back on the field, but shortly after they lined up, the Bulldogs jumped offsides, giving the Fighting Irish a fresh set of downs and allowing them to burn precious additional minutes off the clock.

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During his post-game news conference, Smart addressed the snafu.

“It’s really unfortunate because I’ve been told by our head officials in the SEC you can’t do that, you can’t run 11 on and 11 off,” Smart said. “We did it in 2017 against Tennessee. We carried that, we practiced that and repped because teams try to do it, and were told by officials that you could not do that, so we were trying to say you couldn’t do that.”

“It’s really unfortunate because I’ve been told by our head officials in the SEC you can’t do that… you can’t run 11 on and 11 off.”

Kirby Smart addresses the substitutions made that caused the offside penalty against Georgia late in the game ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/gGivrKbPTM

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) January 3, 2025

While different leagues…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/kirby-smart-falsely-claims-notre-005752388.html

Author : USA TODAY Sports

Publish date : 2025-01-04 00:57:00

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