National Coordinator of Officials addresses questionable calls in Texas vs. Georgia

The Texas vs. Georgia SEC showdown this past Saturday had plenty of drama, including some questionable calls.

The SEC Twitter account posted a video from the National Coordinator of Officials addressing a couple of calls from Saturday’s game.

The Georgia vs. Texas portion of the video started with Georgia head coach Kirby Smart being unable to communicate with his players on the field during the first quarter.

Here is what National Coordinator of Officials Steve Shaw had to say:

“We’re going to look at one of our new technologies for this season, mainly the coach-to-play communication system. Now early in the game here, we see that the head coach, he has a concern. He can’t communicate properly to one of his players on the field,” Shaw explained.

“All 10 FBS conferences have adopted the same policy, and that policy is that if there’s a total system failure for one team, then both teams must not use their coach-to-player system until it is repaired. Now remember, it’s a total system failure. And it’s not the head coach that identifies the system failure. But we have an orange hat, or the game manager, that makes the determination. … And that’s what the orange hat determined here and communicated to the referee. It was not a total system failure, so both teams could continue to use their coach-to-player system.”

The other play Shaw addressed in the Georgia vs. Texas game was a targeting call on Georgia defender Joenel Aguero. The Georgia safety was ejected during the fourth quarter for a hit on Texas running back Quintrevion Wisner.

Shaw said that the correct call was made.

“Play 4 we get a pass over the middle, and No. 8 of the defense delivers a strong hit to the receiver. Now replay’s going to stop the game and take a look at the play for a potential foul of targeting with the crown of the helmet. And as we see the receiver tuck the ball and turn up, No. 8 delivers a strong hit,” Shaw said. “The defender lowers his head, leads with the helmet, and even though there was a slight glancing blow off the facemask of the receiver, he buries his crown into the chest-shoulder area of the receiver.

“And, as we know, to be crown, it doesn’t have to be to the helmet. And as we see here, it’s into the body of the opponent. So this is correctly ruled targeting by replay. … On this play, if the defender could keep his eyes up and see what he hits, there would be no foul.”

Notably, the SEC did not post a video breaking down the call that had Georgia fans most upset on Saturday. That, of course, is the overturned pass interference call that came after Texas fans through bottles and other things onto the field.

Kirby Smart was livid with the call after the game, and he likely is not happy that it hasn’t been publicly addressed by the SEC.