I don't know, guys. I've been watching SEC refs for 30 years and I can say with authority that they do blow some calls, sometimes they blow them big. They are only human and have a tough job. But I've never seen any evidence of SEC refs intentionally favoring a team. I've gotten angry too, and in the heat of the moment and my bias for the Tigers, I've hollered "cheat", as well. But upon sober reflection, I've never seen anything that could really be called referee bias towards a particular team. I have seen certain senior All-American players that seem to get the benefit of the doubt from the referees on close calls, but that may just be that they've seen them in action enough to have a feel for that players tendencies. If the SEC refs have a fault, it is that they too often fail to overrule a fellow refs blown call. But if any refs have shown bias, the SEC referee supervisors have sent them packing early.
I usually listen to the fans when the a TD or XP is scored. They usually cheer before the refs give a signal. The fans in the south end zone cheered loud while the ball was still in the air. That leads me to believe the XP was good. However, the fans in the north end zone never cheered for the TD and seemed to be surprised by the signal (as did a lot of the players on both sides). I had my hand held TV at the game and was miffed there was no replay down the goal line. I can understand your displeasure with the Razorback hootin and hollering after the game. But remember, the hogs were picked to finish 5th in the division and started the conference at 1-3. To even get to play in a game like this was a miracle.
Xtra point Funny how the only people who didn't think that the extra point was good were the people watching on TV, which only showed straight ahead shots and not under-the-goalpost shots. Have you ever noticed that unless it is a dead solid straight kick, from the front and back views a field goal almost always looks no good, because you can't tell from there whether it was over the goal posts when it curved to the right or left? For all the people in the stadium, the fans, the players and coaches (both Arkansas and LSU), the announcers, and most importantly, the refs all knew that the PAT was good. So if you are going to take a bad camera angle over everyone that was at the game that DIDN'T dispute the call, including your own players and coaches, then so be it. You can gripe about it until we play again next year if it makes you feel better. The 4th down TD happened right in front of me, and until I saw the replay on TV, I didn't think that he got in. But once again, the person with the best view of it called it a TD, so I won't argue. If he had said that Pierce was stopped, then I wouldn't argue with that either. Just accept the fact that if LSU had scored a TD on their last drive, or if they had successfully stopped Arkansas on their last possession, then the Tigers would have won and they wouldn't have to be finding reason why the game was stolen from them.
One thing missing in this discussion is the silly "excessive celebration" penalty. Arkansas scores on an amazing 3 play, 81 yard drive in 25 seconds with no timeouts. What are the Arkansas players supposed to do? Should they have just patted the receiver on the butt and trotted back to the bench? I think it would have been unfair had Arkansas wound up losing the game due to this stupid penalty, which, as it sounds from the above posts, was potentially close to happening. The situation reminds me of the Ryder Cup in 1999 when the Americans went crazy after Justin Leonard made the putt on 17. Should they have been flagged for excessive celebration and made Olazabal's potential tying putt 5 yards shorter? Sounds ridiculous, right? So is the excessive celebration penalty in college football.
excessive celebration penalty . . . I hope this can explain why the rule is in place, and how it is enforced. It's a tricky call to make. Sometimes celebration after a play like that is allowed to happen, but when the celebrations extends over a long period of time (beyond the regular amount of time allowed for PAT set ups) then it can and should be called because it would be execessive celebration. It can also be called when a team runs out onto the field from the sidelines. Refs are really cool about this, but it should be called when it happens, to avoid it happening on every regular good play. And that is what the rule is meant to enforce. The refs and NCAA don't mind a little celebrating, but they don't want it to extend the time between plays, be a source of intimadation, or be the cause of injury to anyone. Same goes for fans running onto the field. The NCAA doesn't mind fans running onto the field, but what they are worried about is someone getting hurt or the spirit in which it is done. You wouldn't even hear a bad thing about it if people didn't try to get in coachs and players faces. The NCAA doesn't want celebration on every down or anything you see in the NFL . . . the rule is a good one, and should be enforced more often. Not to discourage celebration but to keep it in the spirit of the game. In ARK, the penalty was called b/c the celebration went on too long and the players basically cleared the sidelines. No one from ARK has complained, but they made the PAT. However, even if meissed, it would be hard to say there wasn't a little excessive celebration going on. If they don't call it, in five years time, you will see celebrating like that after every TD. Much like how goal post come down now for even regular victories. In the past either the fans and players had more control or common sense. I don't want to see the NCAA become the NFL, but some celebration should allowed (and is, as long as it doesn't get out of hand). I hope all that helps.
Tears... Sorry, I just read MikebTiger's post for the first time. I had to stop laughing so that I could type. You all should read his post. It's pure poetic hilarity.
