SEC Officials: Green penalty a mistake, Scott penalty correct

pharpe

The interference was clearly before the "tip" that was about a foot in front of the receiver that was already being held. Can't argue with the pic it's all right there.

lsudolemite

For some reason I was thinking there was illegal contact twice on that play.

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StaceyO

But who CARES if an athlete calls attention to himself? As someone said in another thread, it's a game, and it's supposed to be fun.

Elite athletes all have a swagger about them; they're cocky. What's wrong with that, anyway?

gumborue

georgia fans are ticked that the head of officials is a GT grad. evidently this has been the case on other calls they didnt like.

and did you hear that brando is talking about how race plays in to the celebration calls?

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"The income gap between the rich and the rest of the US population has become so wide, and is growing so fast, that it might eventually threaten the stability of democratic capitalism itself"--Alan Greenspan

bayareatiger

FWIW I happen to agree with you.

I was merely describing what I saw, and what possible motivation the referee would have to make those calls.

ESPECIALLY because the rule is so nefarious and so subject to personal interpretation.

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StaceyO

It's subjectivity at its worst. Terrible rule.

FightinGator

I think if you make a great play you should make a great celebration. It pumps everyone up. As long as they are not mocking the fans or opposing team let them celebrate. Sure give it a cap of 10 seconds or something as a guideline. What's up with the touchy feely bs of the officiating committees? THey need to be slapped out of their political correctness and let football be football.

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Work em' silly Gators!!

RHans405

The rule was actually instituted to keep taunting out of the celebration and it's migrated around to self accreditation. You are correct in that there is too much subjectivity in the call. They made a point of enforcing it this year but it's gone off the deep end. I don't feel they should eliminate the rule as I don't want to go back to the pull your helmet off and shout "look at me, look at me" that was in place in the 90s especially with the prima dona wide receivers that are in the pros today. But, better define the rule so that subjectivity will be reduced.

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Kill Lou Tepper

Don't know if its been mentioned, but Dooley had alot to do with this rule (from AJC)...

When Vince Dooley says he feels your pain, he really feels your pain. He didn’t just sit in Sanford Stadium — by the way, isn’t it high time the thing became Sanford-Dooley Stadium? — and watch Georgia lose to LSU in excruciating fashion Saturday; he sat there knowing a rule he championed helped make it so.

Then Georgia’s athletics director, Vincent J. Dooley was chairman of the NCAA rules committee when it moved in 1995 to make “excessive celebration” a 15-yard penalty. Let the record reflect that Mr. Dooley wasn’t a disinterested party: He lobbied for the rule and defends it to this day. Yes, even after Saturday.

“Sportsmanship had gotten so bad [in the '90s] that we spent one whole year without passing a rule [pertaining to anything else],” Dooley said Monday. “There’s no question it’s a good rule. Guys were watching [NFL players] on Sunday, and the whole thing had gotten choreographed. And everybody was trying to one-up somebody. The whole thing was turning into a circus.”

Brief review: Georgia’s A.J. Green made an outrageous touchdown catch with 1:09 remaining Saturday to give Georgia a 13-12 lead over the nation’s No. 4 team. In his glee, Green was determined by officials to have made a gesture to call attention to himself, which isn’t allowed. (Celebrating with one’s teammates is permitted.)

The resulting 15-yard penalty forced Georgia to kick off from its 15, and LSU’s Trindon Holliday returned the kickoff 40 yards. Coupled with a five-yard penalty on the Bulldogs for illegal procedure — they were misaligned on the kickoff — LSU took possession at the Georgia 38. Two plays later, Charles Scott broke three tackles to put LSU ahead, whereupon Scott was penalized for excessive celebration.

Dooley hasn’t seen the tape of the final minutes. Watching it live, he saw Green do nothing untoward. “I’ve heard CBS [which aired the game] didn’t have anything, either,” he said. “I’ve also heard that WSB had a better shot of it.”

After reviewing the CBS tape, SEC director of officiating Rogers Redding said Monday: “We concluded the video did not support the call.”
Speaking before Redding’s admission, Dooley said: “It was unfortunate. All these rules are judgment calls, and there needs to be constant vigilance to try to get consistency between the conferences. Holding is a classic example, and so is pass interference. But the rules are good … Occasionally there comes a case where there’s controversy over a rule, but what are you going to do, throw out the rule? Are you going to say, ‘OK, we’ll just let everybody hold.’ ”

There was a third penalty for excessive celebration in the game: Georgia tight end Orson Charles waved his hand after a catch. Said Dooley, who had seen the tape of that play: “That was absolutely the right call. He broke away [from his teammates] and did what he did … You can have celebration, but it has to be a team celebration.”

Let the record also reflect that Mr. Dooley has felt the sting himself. On Labor Day night in 1985, Terrie Webster blocked an Alabama punt and Calvin Ruff recovered it for the go-ahead touchdown with 50 seconds to play at Sanford Stadium. Vince Dooley’s team was penalized 15 yards for spilling onto the field — there was no such parlance as “excessive celebration” then — and had to kick off from its 25. (Kickoffs were normally from the 40.)

Alabama took possession at its 29. Mike Shula moved the Tide 71 yards to the winning touchdown, completing four passes in 35 seconds.
Dooley: “It made me mad. Not because we were penalized; because I didn’t keep our guys off the field. And then Shula defied the odds. And [a similar penalty] almost cost us against Florida [in 1980] after Lindsay Scott scored. But we held on.”

Vince’s verdict on the attempt to curtail celebration: “It’s good for college football, even though there were times when it hurt me … But I can defend it when people say, ‘It’s a stupid rule.’ “


I also agree with everyone saying that "drawing attention to oneself" is absolutely stupid. Isn't football and scoring touchdowns inherent with creating attention? How about celebrations not resulting in touchdowns (i.e. sacks, making a first down). Does the rule not apply there cause people always motion toward the crowd (mainly cause they are surrounded 360 degrees in a stadium).



Anyway, that's what you get UGA, blame Dooley

gumborue

hey, maybe that's why they fired him.

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"The income gap between the rich and the rest of the US population has become so wide, and is growing so fast, that it might eventually threaten the stability of democratic capitalism itself"--Alan Greenspan