Urban Meyer calls for action against Kirby Smart for shoving Michael Van Buren

In the Georgia Bulldogs‘ win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs, head coach Kirby Smart was seen shoving opposing quarterback Michael Van Buren. Now, former head coach Urban Meyer is calling for action.

As Meyer explained on The Triple Option, he doesn’t believe that Smart purposefully shoved Van Buren. However, he does believe that a lack of intent doesn’t entirely excuse the action.

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“I was shocked when I saw that,” Urban Meyer said. “I know Kirby as well. I’ve known him a long time and, first of all, I can’t imagine there was any intent however it happened. Should there be a recourse? There should. It happened.”

Kirby Smart shoves Mississippi State QB Michael Van Buren while arguing with official.

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Former Alabama running back Mark Ingram is a co-host on The Triple Option, and he chimed in to wonder about the intent Kirby Smart had on the play. On the play, Michael Van Buren went out of bounds on the Georgia sidelines and Smart can be seen running up the sideline, communicating with either an official or coach, when the two came into contact.

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For his part, Urban Meyer thinks that intent isn’t important. Instead, he feels the coach and player should be held to the same standard.

“To me, players and coaches need to be treated the same,” Meyer said. “Can you imagine if a player had done that to a coach? Something’s happening. I don’t think the player would play the next game. So, I was disappointed when I saw that, but once again I know Kirby and I was shocked when I saw that.”

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey addressed the incident between Kirby Smart and Michael Van Buren, sharing that he feels there should have been a penalty called on the field against Georgia. He also noted he’s confident it wasn’t the intention. No disciplinary action was announced.

“On our text, I was listening to a couple of players that, I threw Nick Bosa and it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, you’d need a body bag,'” Meyer concluded.

Kirby Smart addresses pushing Michael Van Buren

In the aftermath of the pushing incident, Kirby Smart addressed what happened and shared that he’s since reached out to Mississippi State about what happened.

“I think I was going after [defensive coordinator Glenn] Schumann,” Smart said following the game. “I was trying to get Schumann’s attention. We were trying to change personnel. I think it’s the play they came over to our sideline and trying to get Schumman’s attention. But, no, I don’t really remember it.”

The Athletic’s Seth Emerson added that Smart reached out about what had happened.

“Kirby Smart said he spoke yesterday to Mississippi State QB Michael Van Buren Jr., and ‘told him I had no intentions or ill will at all,’” Emerson wrote on Twitter. “Smart said he didn’t realize he had shoved Van Buren until he saw the tape on Sat. night, and immediately called coach Jeff Lebby.“