<p>Great job in getting all that info on Alabama football, mom2collegekids!! Thanks! And thanks for the correcting me on the Fulbright/Rhodes scholar mix-up. My only excuse is that I have a young friend who is leaving today, actually, for her Fulbright term in the Netherlands and I am so proud of her I could just “bust”, as we say here in the south! :)</p>
<p>Another problem with college football on saturday is in the USC vs Utah game. </p>
<p>USC won 17-14, Utah attempted a last second field goal to tie the game but was blocked. USC player recovered the ball and what they should have done is take a knee and end the game. Instead he ran for a touchdown. USC celebrated by running onto the field BEFORE the player entered the endzone. By rule, this should not count as a touchdown, and it didn’t. The game ended 17-14. Hours later, they changed the score to 23-14. This proves that the game is controlled by the people upstairs, not the referee. The referee made the right call at that time.</p>
<p>^My understanding from reading the news on that, is that the penalty for this new rule is different when the “unsportsmanlike conduct” (running onto the field) is done by substitutes not players on the field. That is why the touchdown was reinstated. Also, supposedly the players who ran on field thought the game was over with the block; they didn’t realize the ball was still in play.</p>
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<p>Because that makes it okay…</p>
<p>No, it didn’t make it okay. A penalty was still justified (not loss of the touchdown), but the game was over. I just mentioned it because it does not appear that the “unsportsmanlike conduct” was intentional on the part of the players on the sidelines. They thought the game was over.</p>
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<p>Well, hops_scout, if the referees got the call wrong, I hardly think it’s fair to criticize the players for getting it wrong. A bunch of college kids were thrilled they won a hard-fought game and celebrating (without taunting or being unsportsmanlike to the opposing team) - is that really such a horrible thing?</p>
<p>I’m not a fan of this whole “excessive celebration” call, anyway. Georgia lost to Florida a year or so ago when the refs called excessive celebration for a very minimal reaction from a Georgia player. Hot dogging is different from celebrating, and I think the refs go overboard.</p>
<p>Anyway, from what I’ve read, I don’t see too many people questioning the NCAA ruling.</p>
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<p>I understand what you’re saying, in college sports you shouldn’t run up the score. But in this case, in the middle of a play for a ball recovery that was critical to the outcome, you don’t want players making on-the-field decisions of “oh, well, the game must be over, so I’ll take a knee”. Receivers aren’t taught to think through whether they should run every time they catch the ball, much less players who catch a ball in a key turnover situation. </p>
<p>It’s a really bad idea to try to be one of the referees in the middle of your own play.</p>