Rico McGraw behaves like a real thug here. (h/t)
Really, college football? This is what you have to zealously guard against? Jeez, maybe it’s time to revisit the rule, or at least give officials a little more discretion as to when it’s right to throw a flag.
Heaven forbid these kids enjoy the moment.
Get The Picture 
I’m not saying the ref is a cocksucker.. but that’s a cocksucking call.
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OK, I’ll go ahead and say it: “That ref is a COCKSUCKER!!”
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We need a fucking rainout.
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THIS is a simple game.
(except when the refs get invovled)
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They’re kids… scare ’em.
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Loligaggers
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“Loligaggers”…Sea Service (Navy/ Marines) terminology for people goofing off. There are much more descriptive and accurate military terms for these refs.
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Limp dicks? Shitbirds?
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That game left me feeling wooly from all the stress.
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I’ll make this comment with the caveat that I cant see the video for some reason (and didn’t see it when I was at the game Sat).
While a call like that to change the outcome of a game (which it absolutely did) and the rule may be a dumb one (ok is a dumb one, at least when being enforced like this). The fact is it IS a rule, every player knows it is a rule, its not some obscure thing that sends people scrambling to the rule book.
He f *** up and it cost us. We have been doing that kind of crap for years, that is one (not the only) thing I thought coach Richt was slack on and at least to my knowledge never held the kids accountable for stuff like that (i.e. punishment like running the stadium steps or something for doing something stupid like that).
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Ugh.
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That’s awful. To hell with SEC officiating!
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If I recall correctly, Vince Dooley was involved in that particular rule change. We beat up on Tech in ’94 or so, and Terrell Davis had about 17 touchdowns. He took off his heel and ran around celebrating after a couple of them. I remember an interview on WSB radio in the offseason where VD referenced that, with an ‘act like you’ve been there before’ message. He thought it was good to celebrate with your teammates, but not call attention to yourself. He was on the rules committee, and discussed the spirit of the rule. The Miami bowl game where they had a ton of uncalled celebrations contributed too, if memory serves.
Clearly there’s a difference between a celebration with your team and show-boating after you do something. The spirit of the rule was not served with that penalty yesterday. Still, it is the rule. No doubt it was a part of why we lost, as was the 5-yard penalty on the kickoff. And if we knock the damn ball down, none of those things matter. Shame they do though.
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Took off his HELMET, not heel
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I was scratching my noggin’ over that. Thanks.
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Yep, some discretion on the part of the refs is in order. How do we always get screwed on these BS things? See AJ Green vs. LSU in 2009.
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Have you EVER seen a ref use discretion with UGA? I guess it’s how you want to look at it though. They use their discretion to throw a flag on UGA at the worst possible most damaging moment possible. The SEC Refs are Lucy to our Charlie Brown.
If the officials don’t make the celebration call Tenn has virtually no chance in that game. That said, if Rico doesn’t run on the field they don’t win either. I feel bad for the players. It’s a shitty way to lose the game. Just learn something from it and move on.
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I have to agree.
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This was so “Georgia Way”.
Penalize your own program for perceived transgressions and act surprised when others want to jump on your pile.
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Yeah, but you’ve got to ask yourself what in the hell was Rico thinking to run on the field like that… I’m mean seriously did he not know a flag would ensue??!! Where were the coaches on the sidelines restraining players?
In any event that brain damaged emotional reaction by Rico was a contributor to our loss. Kirby should make the entire team run stadium steps tomorrow for two hours. Perhaps they’ll learn a lesson. Maybe sit Rico at the 50 yard line with a dunce cap, while his teammates run those steps.
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Jeez, man, he wasn’t thinking. That’s the entire point here.
His team scored a miracle touchdown and the place went bonkers. He lost his head. He’s a kid; it happens. There certainly wasn’t any nefarious intent behind his behavior and the refs should have some discretion to take the circumstances into account.
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Exactly. For all intents and purposes, the game was over. Everyone was going nuts. The refs are looking for something to flag. It’s a bullshit call, pure and simple.
We still should have covered the hail Mary, though.
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Amen. I am sure Rico did not check the clock. The Tenn players all rushed the field. He thought the game was over. The refs blrw it. I hope they hear about it.
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They won’t, they never do.
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Well f’ing said. Most consider me a rather stoic guy, I’m in my late 30’s, and even I went utterly nuts yesterday in my living room 500 miles away. My antics by itself probably would have drawn a flag or two.
Yet we expect some 19 year old to somehow not show any raw emotion, which not only isn’t realistic, its rather pathetic as well imo. And please spare the this nonsensical ‘act like you’ve been there before’ bs. For those players and those circumstances…they haven’t been there before.
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Agree 100%.
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Well said as usual, 3&G
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Im 2500 miles away and I’m pretty sure my neighbors were legitimately concerned for my well being. They just don’t get it.
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Why would you trust officials to get that right? The only way you’re going to get rid of dumb calls is to get rid of the rule entirely.
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^This.
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We’re lookin up a dead horses ass.
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It’s a S#itty rule, doesn’t affect anything negatively and probably needs to be visited for revision. That said, there’s no good reason for 36 to give the official an opportunity to flag it. It was the main reason that Tennessee had any chance to win the game.
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If it gets changed the change will come back to bite US!
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Undisciplined players, undisciplined decisions will get you beat. We had undisciplined penalties that cost us. And that’s disheartening
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A horseshit penalty and a horseshit call.
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Haven’t had the heart to watch the replay. Can anyone confirm that UT players ran on the field w/out helmets after the Eason end zone fumble?
Bad rules don’t drive me as crazy as the inequal enforcement of bad rules.
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Yes, the injured kid that was a captain for them I think. Not sure it’s on the TV replay, but it is on the intertubes somewhere.
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It was not a discretionary penalty… change the rule and you make it discretionary. Kirby was right. Every other player on the sideline managed to celebrate there and wait for the offense to come over.
Maybe we need a new rule to further clarify the old rule… kind of like congress.
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All the refs had to do was issue a warning. The intent of the rule is to prohibit taunting. That was not what was going on and it was obvious. It’s a shame that these referees can’t use common sense on the spot. Had they issued a warning, nobody would have complained. Butch Jones wouldn’t have complained. It would have been seen as a common sense call. But common sense ain’t that common anymore.
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Unfortunately, this one was called correctly. He ran right in front of the referee. They don’t make the rules, they just call them.
The A.J. Green penalty was not called correctly.
But in both cases, the penalty was followed-up with a poor special teams play on our part.
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We really should hire a special teams coordinator.
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Beamer is it.
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Yeah just like the incomplete bounce pass was called correctly.
Disgraceful
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The live broadcast showed at least one UT player, from the DL, dancing around on the field of play with his helmet in his hand after the sack-fumble-TD, and right in front of a ref. No call. A friend at the game said there were several without helmets, and at least one guy who wasn’t dressed out, on the field of play celebrating.
The live broadcast showed at least one UT player who wasn’t dressed out jumping into the field of play directly in front of two officials immediately after the interception late in the 4th quarter. No call.
I get that Rico technically broke the rule, right, but good grief. Ref should have told him “Son, you got a little too excited, there’s still time on the clock.” And if they were going to flag it like legalistic a$$holes, they should have flagged it those two times as well.
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Lets not forget that UT assistant dressed in green who was right on the edge of the sideline when our WR tried to make a catch on the sideline during our last drive. He reached his arms out as if he was going to catch the ball, and both announcers commented that it easily should have been a sideline penalty on UT.
But alas, no call.
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My best friend said it best: “The penalties were brutal. Warranted? Maybe not so much. Seems funny that you can set yourself up to lose by celebrating an improbable 50 yard touchdown pass with ten seconds left but if the clock is expired when you do it you can invite the whole world on the field to help you celebrate and it’s all good. Then again, I guess we have Dooley to blame for that asinine rule.”
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Agree with the others. That penalty gave UT the game. No other way to describe it.
But why is no one talking about the play where UT dropped the pass on the ground but the refs gave them a god damn 1st down? UT ran to the line and quick snapped before it could even be reviewed.
With all this bullshit talk about the review system and having an offsite review system they still can’t get it right. The rule needs to be addressed where even if the ball is snapped on the next play, the following play should still be reviewable.
UGA seemed to have all the ref calls against them last night. Just can’t beat the refs no matter how good or bad you play.
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Agreed. And CKS should have called a TO to make them review it.
First-year head coach and all. What I don’t get is the ref who called it a completed pass was two yards away. How in the hell do you NOT see that ball bounce?
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Yes! Smart should not have let that next play be run without a challenge.
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Because he’s a crook! He’s the same guy who called the bogus TD in the first half–the Line Judge.
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Smart’s decision not to kick the ball as deep as possible after the Eason TD pass was a very big mistake.
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And he was SO cavalier about it in the presser……
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Are you sure he called a pooch? I thought they were just pinned so deep because of the penalty that was as far as he could get it. I am genuinely curious.
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Here ya go Bill.
http://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/georgia-football/georgia-coach-kirby-smart-talks-unusual-late-game-sky-kick-loss-vols/
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I was going bonkers in my living room, too. But I also was fearing an excessive celebration penalty and yelling at the coaches to keep players on the sideline. We’ve been there before. Then the inexplicable offsides penalty. This is Georgia. Use this as a teaching moment. Don’t make the same mistake again. I think that’s what drove everyone crazy about the previous staff.
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Gotta ask: who was offside?
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Quincy Mauger (or Mo-jay if you prefer) #20.
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Never would have guessed it would be him. He’s been around for a few rodeos.
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Several calls were inept. The incomplete pass that was called complete without a replay was awful as well. Isn’t there a procedure for school to contact SEC about questionable calls? If I remember, it comes from the AD and usually gets a ‘Yeah, thanks’ response. Now that the 90 day information release is in place not sure we would hear anything.
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So the conventional wisdom here last week was that Kirby is too mean to the players because he calls them out. What say you now?
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I still say it’s bullshit. No need to call anyone out individually in public. Behind closed doors, ream them a new one for all I care. But calling someone out in public is weak.
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Even before yesterday I thought this kind of penalty should only cost a team 5 yards and not 15.
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Absolutely yes
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They used to assess these penalties on the PAT try. Why was that changed?
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So that the officials could really screw the team they called it on
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Well, if you needed a 2 point try, or had an erratic kicker, that 15 yards on the PAT could be pretty significant. Non-violent unsportsmanlike penalties are not a big deal anyway unless they are taunting so what’s the big deal. Five yard delay of game for celebration violations, and warning to players off the bench coming out to congratulate team mates….helmeted or not. 2nd time, run a lap around the field. Much bigger issues to attend to for officials.
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The official should have grabbed him and told him to get off the field in lieu of a penalty. You know, use discretion like they use for every other call they make during the game. This is one of those where they can hide behind their rule book and say they called it like the rule says to keep judgment out of the game… yet, why don’t they call holding every single play? They use their judgment. This is a BS rule enforced in BS ways to affect outcomes of games, and I’ve seen it bite UGA in the rear twice in Sanford Stadium. What happened to the home team getting a little home cooking?
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Because the officials work for the suits in Birmingham … Georgia will NEVER benefit from home cooking from SEC officials. Hell, we don’t even get home cooking when we play an out of conference game with SEC officials. It’s past time to confront the league office about this with a veiled threat to find another place to play if it isn’t.
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We’re never leaving the SEC though. The money is too big. We know that. They know that. They know that we know that.
If we had an AD with some gumption we could come out and start a PR blitz against the SEC home office and win some public support, embarrass the league into changing something, and pay for the fines with the reserve fund.
But we all know how that would turn out if we actually tried that.
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I know … I’m just sick of constantly playing 19 vs 11.
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As long as its always been called against other teams without any discretion, I’ve got no problem with the call. If that is the case, however, the coaches have to proactively coach the heck out of these kids to get them to think when in this situation. Yes, they’re only 19-20, but they have to make lots of other decisions to win the game, so this is just one more example of the discipline they have to have if they want to be champions.
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I read that the replay official was the same guy from the Jasper Sanks “fumble” call.
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I heard it was Ford as well.
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Truth….
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Yes and he has never forgiven us for being suspended after that Tech game. Why the AD doesn’t raise holy hell and have him banded from the UGA home games is one of the great mysteries of our dumb ass AD.
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Also don’t get eht the receiving team gets BOTH the return and the 5-yard penalty for offsides. Take the return and refuse the penalty, or take the penalty and re-kick. Don’t see any logic in how these penalties are assessed. What was their thinking?
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I don’t know the logic behind it either, and you make sense. Any typical play from scrimmage where there’s offsides you either take the penalty, replay the down with the five yard penalty, or you take the play as is. I don’t understand why a kickoff is different.
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It was done to reduce “dangerous” kicking plays and “speed up” the game.
(yeah I know…)
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This is what pisses me off about Kirby. Paid millions and want to cover his ass and place blame on the kids:
“We’d already called what we called. We didn’t dictate what we did off of what they did. We decided what to do when we sent them out there”
“That is deep for Rodrigo,” Smart said a tad sarcastically about the 48-yard kickoff. “I was disappointed he didn’t kick it deep all day. That’s what we’re trying to do. We put our best players we can on kickoff coverage. That’s what broke my heart on special teams, guys. We challenged them all week to out-special teams these guys, because they are good at what they do.”
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“The beatings will continue until morale improves”
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He’s not exactly a players coach is he. Little Nick without the street cred.
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Clearly a flag should be thrown based on the rules. Those rules were in place before the game. Just no excuse for it. Celebrate on the sidelines all you want. Not the first time it’s happened to us. And the pouch kickoff…..one of the things most complained about in the past.
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On the kickoffs, let just say the Georgia coaching staff (no matter who it is) likes the challenge®.
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They were kicking off from the 20. The ball came down around the 30. It wasn’t drastically different from how Blankenship had been kicking them most of the game, even if those others weren’t intentional. Personally, I would have gone with a low line drive and see if you can get it bouncing around down there, but there was no way to avoid a return.
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Definitely a chicken-shit call. Didn’t decide the game. Just like wins, loses are the sum of the parts. There were plenty of other miscues that contributed to that loss. Gotta play to the zeros.
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We’re still being made an example of from the endzone dance 8 f’n years ago.
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Somewhere Penn Wagers is smiling and nodding at this..
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“Foot Stomp” II
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It’s just amazing that any Dawg fan can be even the slightest bit surprised that the refs make bad calls on us. Hell it has happened so long that the surprise should be that make the right call. I just hope at sometime in the future Kirby can get to have the total intimidation of the refs that Saban has. I know it will take us being in contention for us to get the SEC special money calls but I can hope. SEC setting up the UT A&M game and the UT Alabama game. We were the fly in the ointment and had to be taken care of by any means necessary.
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In the SEC, the unwritten rule is “don’t lose early”.
The SEC is a business. In close games, the teams in the best position to go to a big-money post-season game will get the benefit of the doubt.
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