Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs were outmatched by Notre Dame on Thursday, getting bounced in their first game of this year’s College Football Playoff.

After the game, Smart was asked about one key moment that occurred late in the game, when Marcus Freeman took his punt team off the field and subbed in the offense, the confusion of which resulted in an offsides penalty against Georgia.

In his response, Smart indicated that he was under the impression such a substitution was against the rules, or at least that’s what SEC officials told him, and that’s why he elected not to call a timeout.

“It’s really unfortunate because I’ve been told by our Head of Officials in the SEC you can’t do that. You can’t run 11 on and 11 off,” said Smart.

Smart may well be wishing he called that timeout.

It appears that Freeman’s substitution was legal because the Fighting Irish long snapper had not yet gotten set. According to NCAA rules, 11-man substitutions aren’t legal when the ball is in play. The ball was not in play, however, because the long snapper never got set.

Quarterback Riley Leonard then was successful in drawing a defensive lineman offside, resulting in a first down for Notre Dame, which proceeded to bleed an additional five minutes off the clock before the next time possession changed hands.

Smart referred to a time in 2017 against Tennessee when Georgia tried to substitute 11 men and was informed by SEC officials that he could not do it.

“I don’t think they were planning on going for it. They were going to hard count us. And we prepare for that, we do it every week. And we jumped offsides,” Smart said. “But, we also were told that we couldn’t do that in our league.”