On the replay, the steps South Carolina’s Jaycee Horn took to draw the untimely penalty show it wasn’t just in the game’s flow.
His teammates had stuffed Kentucky’s Benny Snell on a key third down. He wasn’t that close to the pile. But he went over, squatted down to get his face close and said something to the powerful tailback.
Moments later, defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw was pulling him away and defensive end Keir Thomas gave him a shove in the face mask to hammer home that he’d messed up. The flag had already come out, putting the Wildcats on USC’s 20 with a first down, wiping away the stop.