Kirby Smart addresses Michael Van Buren Jr. shoving incident: Should he be suspended?

The biggest thing to come out of Georgia's Week 7 victory over Mississippi State had nothing to do with what happened between the lines. Late in the game, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart was seen aggressively shoving Mississippi State quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr. while he was working his way back to the field of play. It was uncalled for by Smart, but he may not have seen Van Buren either.

While everybody outside of Athens wants to crucify Smart, and I get it from their perspective, I think there is a chance Smart did not see who it was in his peripheral vision. He was trying to get in contact with the referee on the sidelines, the same one who didn't blow the whistle after seeing Smart shove Van Buren. Smart was not flagged for this and was not removed from the game for shoving a player.

In the aftermath of the game, Smart apparently reached out to Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby for getting caught up in the moment. Lebby seemed to have taken his apology for the unfortunate incident. Smart would say during Monday's press conference ahead of the Texas game that he spoke to Van Buren himself about the incident and apologized for shoving him on Saturday.

Here is the incident in question that was captured by ESPN in its telecast over on the SEC Network.

Here is what Smart had to say about the incident during Monday's press conference up in Athens.

"Yeah, absolutely, and I'm glad you brought that up. Because after you guys said that in the press conference, I went back and watched it. I didn't even realize that I had run into him. I reached out to Lebby that night and talked to him, and said the kid was great. Yesterday, I talked to Mike and told him I had no intentions or ill will towards him at all ..."

Smart went on to defend himself for trying to get to his DC Glenn Schumann to make a substitution.

"If you have ever been on the sideline in a game, it's pandemonium. It's really pandemonium when you're trying to change personnel, and you've only got three or four seconds to do it. And we were bad off in a bad personnel grouping against empty that we actually messed up the week before. I was trying to get to Schumann to get that changed, but I reached out to the kid. He was great. He's a really good player. He's going to be a good player in this league. He played better as the game went along against us."

Smart clearly feels guilty about it, but that may not be enough to get the haters off of his back now.

He shouldn't be shoving anyone, but he likely thought it was one of his own players getting in the way.

Either way, it is a terrible look for Smart. The big question is if he will get suspended for it vs. Texas.

Kirby Smart shoves Mississippi State QB: Should he be suspended?

Biases aside, it is going to come down to what SEC commissioner Greg Sankey wants to do at the league office. If the outcry from Mississippi State is that loud, then I could see it happening. If not, then I suspect that the SEC will sweep this under the rug. People can be offended about this as much as they want, but it really comes down to how Lebby and Van Buren feel about the situation at hand.

It doesn't seem like they are going to fall to pieces over it. So that leads me to believe that Smart probably will not get suspended, even though he probably should be. The combination of Mississippi State's lack of outcry, Smart being able to say he did not do it on purpose, apologizing to Lebby and Van Buren, as well as explaining himself to the local media, will all contribute to him coaching again.

And to be totally honest, it serves Sankey to sweep this under the rug. This is because Georgia is not going to have a chance vs. Texas in Austin without Smart on the sideline. The Dawgs and Longhorns are two of the most likely candidates in the SEC to make the College Football Playoff. Why cross Georgia off prematurely with a loss down a head coach when the result might end up being the same?

Truth be told, Smart needs to chill out. He also needs his defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann to do a better job. His elevated role shows us that he is not the next Dan Lanning in the slightest. Smart may be fiery, but he has to do better than this. I understand that he is a former defensive back, but he is pushing 50. This is a game being played with 18 to 23-year-olds. He has to be a better leader now.

If the SEC suspends Smart for shoving Van Buren ahead of Texas, he gets what he deserves here.