The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn., Ron Higgins column: SEC officials nothing to celebrate

Oct 04, 2009 (The Commercial Appeal - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- WILG | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- A funny thing happened in the last couple of minutes of No. 4 LSU's dramatic 20-13 victory over No. 18 Georgia on Saturday in Athens.

In the middle of both teams trying to give away the game with busted defensive coverage after busted defensive coverage, a Buffalo Wild Wings commercial audition broke out.

You've seen the commercials in which the referee peers into the sideline monitor and asks patrons in a private video hookup if they want the game to last a little longer?

When they answer "yes," the ref promptly makes a bogus call and later trips a runner.

That's the way I felt watching the LSU-Georgia officiating crews whistle a celebration penalty each on Georgia and LSU following both of its final TDs.

In both cases, the penalty was enforced on the kickoff, meaning Georgia and LSU was forced to kickoff from its 15-yard line, giving up 15 valuable yards of field position.

As for LSU, it was able to survive running back Charles Scott's phantom celebration after his 33-yard game-winning TD with 46 seconds left. Georgia didn't have enough time to cover the 67 yards it would have needed on its final drive.

But LSU would have never got a chance for Scott's game-winning TD had the Bulldogs been flagged for excessive celebration following Joe Cox's 16-yard TD pass to A.J. Green that gave Georgia a 13-12 lead with 1:09 left.

Replay after replay didn't reveal any excessive celebration. Yet the penalty was assessed and Georgia kicks off to LSU's Trindon Holliday, the NCAA 100 meter champ. He returns the kick in a blink 40 yards to the Georgia 43 and the Bulldogs also get penalized five yards for illegal formation on the kickoff.

So LSU -- trailing by a point -- was already a few yards away from kicker Josh Jasper's range and the Tigers ended up getting the TD.

If I'm Georgia coach Mark Richt, I'm on the phone to Rogers Redding, the SEC supervisor of officials, and I'm burning his ears. And Tiger coach Les Miles could chime-in as a backup complainer.

The SEC released a statement from the officiating crew that said, "Following a brief team celebration, Green made a gesture to the crowd calling attention to himself."

Said Richt, "I don't know what happened, I can't make a comment on it. I'm sad that it happened. I hope our boys weren't taunting anybody. I guess you can't get too excited for too long, or they'll throw a rag on you.

"To me, if you're losing the game, it's late and all hope is lost, you get a spark and score a touchdown, maybe that was the right amount of celebration. I didn't think it was excessive for the moment. I thought it was par for the course.

"I didn't think LSU went too far, either. They were well within their celebratory rights. I didn't think they were excessive."

Miles said he wasn't sure about the validity of Georgia's excessive celebration penalty.

"I have always instructed my team to turn their backs on someone if they were to celebrate," Miles said.

Ready for Midnight Madness

Being the football coach at the University of Kentucky is almost as hard as being the coach for Vanderbilt. You have mediocre in-state high school talent in the state of Kentucky, and there's the issue of Kentucky basketball, even in lousy years, overshadowing Kentucky football. Like Saturday in Lexington when a headline story in the Lexington Herald Leader was UK basketball coach John Calipari joining with students camping out for free Midnight Madness tickets. And then at Saturday's football game, won by No. 3 Alabama 38-20, maybe the biggest cheer of the day came in the first quarter when Calipari and the basketball team were introduced to the Commonwealth Stadium crowd. Kentucky coach Rich Brooks' team could have won a few more fans, but self-destructed just enough at key moments. Also, kudos to Alabama QB Greg McElroy (15-of-26 for 148 yards, two TDs) for another flawless performance. Since his poor first half in the season opener against Virginia Tech, McElroy has completed 72-of-101 for 992 ya rds, nine TDs and no interceptions. ... Who would have thought that a couple of teams that like to move the chains by running would combine to throw for 530 yards? Georgia Tech and its triple option offense produced 266 passing yards and Mississippi State's Tyson Lee threw for 264, but State never could catch Tech in the Yellow Jackets' 42-31 victory. No team likes to feel good about a loss, but State could have packed it in after losing four fumbles. Give the Bullies credit for playing this one to the end.

No killer instinct

Ole Miss was happy to get a win at Vanderbilt, 23-7, since the Rebels were coming off that loss at South Carolina. But the one thing that probably nagged Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt as he got on the team bus late Saturday night was his squad didn't close out the Commodores after getting ahead 23-0. Quarterback Jevan Snead is still trying too hard to make plays, and the evidence was his three interceptions, including picks on back-to-back series in the third quarter. . .Tennessee quarterback Jonathan Crompton might be the worst Vols' starting QB I've seen in my 30 years of covering SEC football. In Saturday's 26-22 loss to Auburn, he lost a fumbled snap, tripped and fell with another snap before he had a chance to hand off and consistently threw wide, high and low of his intended targets. He is a great after-the-fact QB, throwing TDs when the game is already decided. First-year Vols' coach Lane Kiffin a handy excuse for what looks to be a losing season.

-- Ron Higgins: 529-2525

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