It's real!! It was actually an ACC ref who snuck in to the crew and is warming up for the UF/FSU game!!
That is very real, I watched in live and watched the replay many times. The ref threw the shoulder into SCAR's QB Garcia as he ran inside the 10 of LSU. There is no rational, or irrational, conclusion that I can come up with that would lead me to believe any explanation from that ref outside of him being on the take.
I watched it live too. The runner had an open lane to the outside but for some reason decided to run over the ref. I assume that he may have played ball at some point and instead of just getting his clock cleaned, he protected himself. As I recall, the broadcasting crew said the same thing.
His first step was back, taking him away from the play. why not continue backward? Why take 3 steps up into the runner and engage him?
I got the impression he thought that the runner was going to continue outside and he was going to run past him to be in position. Of course, I had a different view on TV. It was higher up and you got to see a better view of the outside daylight.
I see that the SEC cleared him. As I suspected he's a former linebacker for Ky. It was probably pure instinct trying to protect himself.