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Kirby Smart calls out officials, Notre Dame substitution that led to Georgia penalty in Sugar Bowl

IMG_0985by:Griffin McVeigh•01/02/25•

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Georgia HC Kirby Smart at the 2025 Sugar Bowl
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart. (Photo by Stephen Lew-Imagn Images)

Play of the night from New Orleans may have been an offsides call against Georgia in the fourth quarter. Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman originally had his punt team on the field for a 4th and 1 before subbing the offense back in. Kirby Smart rushed his defense back out there and a few moments later, Riley Leonard got Jalon Walker to jump for a free first down.

Following the game, Smart called out the officials for even allowing Notre Dame to substitute all 11 players. He says SEC referees have told him that is not allowed after attempting to pull a similar stunt early in his career in Athens. A Big 12 crew was working the Sugar Bowl, potentially having a different interpretation of the rule.

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“They wanted us to burn a timeout there and try to do it,” Smart said postgame. “And we subbed. So it’s really unfortunate, because I’ve been told by our head of officials in the SEC that you can’t do that. You can’t run 11 on, 11 off. We did it in 2017 against Tennessee. We’ve carried that. We practiced that and repped that because teams try to do it, and we were told by officials you could not do that.”

Notre Dame was on its own 18-yard line, most likely never really thinking about going for it. The goal was the pull Georgia offsides the entire time and attempt to extend the drive. Considering the circumstances, running a real play would have been viewed as too big of a risk.

Freeman’s team had 7:17 left on the clock on the 4th and 1. The penalty turned out to be a major time burner for them as Georgia did not get the ball back until after the two-minute timeout. Down 13, there was very little time left to attempt a two-score comeback.

“We got our defense out there,” Smart said. “We were fine. I mean, I would have gone for it, if I was them.
I don’t think they were planning on going for it. They were going to hard-count us. We prepare for that. We do it every week. We jumped offsides, you know? But we also were told you couldn’t do that in our league.”