A.J. Green was mobbed by teammates and penalized for excessive celebration, although no camera angle showed any wrongdoing.
The NFL has been called the “No Fun League.” What can you call the NCAA, or more specifically, the SEC? The referees of the LSU-Georgia game went entirely too far in calling excessive celebration penalties that absolutely killed the end of the game. With LSU winning 12-7, Georgia scored a touchdown to go ahead 13-12 with 1:09 remaining. A seemingly phantom excessive celebration penalty was called on Georgia wide receiver A.J. Green that backed up the kickoff 15 yards. LSU returned that kickoff to the Georgia 37-yard line. Already in field goal range, LSU’s Charles Scott ran for a touchdown just seconds later, dropping the ball and pointing to the sky, thanking God for what had happened. He too was flagged for excessive celebration. The referees allowed their calls to decide the outcome of the game rather than the players on the field, and what a shame it was. While LSU walked out with a 20-13 win, the larger issue is why referees are so trigger happy when it comes to throwing flags.
ESPN’s Mike Golic, of the Mike and Mike Morning Show, went off about this sequence of events. He hit the nail right on the head as he distinguished between “celebrating” and “taunting” and wondered aloud why college football players are not allowed to enjoy themselves on the field. There is a clear line between celebrating with your teammates and rubbing it in the face of the opposition. Georgia’s entire team rushing the field to dance and taunt Florida after the first touchdown of the game two years ago was taunting and warranted an excessive celebration penalty. Georgia celebrating a go-ahead touchdown with one minute to play at home is an entirely different story.
The bottom line is, this has gotten completely out of hand. While NFL players tweet about what end zone celebration they will perform when they score that weekend, college players can’t high-five after a sack for fear of getting a 15-yard penalty. It’s a terrible double standard that has now led to the game being taken away from the players. It has gotten to the point where referees are standing out more than the athletes. When a college player celebrates a play, I no longer see what the player does, I only see two referees sprint full-speed towards him to threaten him with a penalty and make him stop. It appears there is no fun allowed for anyone on the field.
This rule needs to be overturned immediately. It is taking away from the game and is allowing more focus on the officials than the athletes and coaches. While those excessive celebration calls might not have been the deciding factor in the LSU-Georgia game, it had a huge impact and one day it will directly cost some team a game. Why not prevent that from happening all together and tell the officials to keep their flags in their pockets?
