Excessive Celebration?

I’m not sure if you saw the BYU/Washington game last night, if you didn’t, let me set the stage for you…

In a game that was back and forth all game; BYU is up 27-20, and looking to extend the longest current winning streak in the NCAA.  Washington puts together a great drive in the final minute of the 4^th Qtr.  With 10 seconds left, and Washington with a 3^rd and goal from about the 5yd. line, Mr. Washington himself, QB Jake Locker scrambles and somehow wills himself into the end zone for the touchdown.  So there it is, we are going to overtime!  Not so fast my friend, there is a yellow hanky on the turf.  The penalty is excessive celebration.  As Locker ran into the end zone, with pure exhilaration, he tossed the ball in the air and jumped into a teammates arms. The touchdown counts, but the extra point will have to be kicked from the 20 yd line instead of the 3 yd. line.  And you probably can guess what happens next…the kick is blocked, Washington loses by one point!

  Now, I know we can say that we don’t even know if the kick would have been made from the original spot of 3 yds away. And you are exactly right.  We don’t know, because the refs blew the call and influenced the possible outcome.  Who are we to know that from the original 3 yd line BYU wouldn’t have decided to go for two points and the win instead, but once it was moved back to the 20 yd line that was no longer an option.

  The definition of the rule, excessive celebrating, is anything prolonged, excessive, or premeditated.  I don’t know how you can tell me that a 20 year-old kid, who just scrambled for a 5 yd possible game-tying touchdown, with 0.00 seconds on the clock, tossing the ball in the air and jumping up into one of his teammates arms is any of those three things (prolonged, excessive or premeditated).  So then I ask someone…please tell me the appropriate way that Locker should have reacted with his excitement?  If you ask Locker right now, I bet you that he doesn’t even remember what he did with the football after he scored, probably because he acted with spontaneous excitement, not in a taunting manner.

  The best thing about college football is the emotion and passion the players play with. This rule, or the interpretation of this rule by the referee’s, is threatening to take that away.  I am all for penalizing excessive celebrating and taunting. But I am also for watching a football game where a player carries his team’s hope on his back of coming through with the clutch play, being emotional and showing his excitement.