I completely agree with people who say that Locker just reacted with excitement and that he meant no disrespect. I also strongly agree that a game shouldn't be decided by the referees. But the wording of the rule couldn't be more clear. If everyone is so upset about this, then don't blame the guy who enforces it; blame the people who made the rule and work to get it changed.
Rob -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 6:37 AM To: gatortalk googlegroups <[email protected]> Subject: [gatortalk] RE: [gatornews] Alligator - BYU-Washington excessive celebration call College football rules state that you can not throw the ball into the air. The guy threw the ball into the air. Refs had no choice. I agree that some of the excessive celebration rules are excessive. But for the most part agree with the rules and Urban Meyer's interpretation of how they should be. -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [gatornews] Alligator From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wed, September 10, 2008 6:16 am To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Urban Meyer weighs in on BYU-Washington excessive celebration call By EVAN DREXLER Last weekend in college football, BYU played against Washington, with the game coming down to a final play. Washington, down 7 points, scored a touchdown on the last play, and quarterback Jake Locker threw the ball up the in air after scoring the touchdown, and referees flagged him for a 15-yard excessive celebration penalty. The penalty was enforced on the extra point, and the Cougars missed it. They lost the game, 28-27 because of that penalty. For more on the actual game, check out the full story. But after practice today, Gators coach Urban Meyer made his case for the referees making the wrong call. Did you see the BYU-Washington excessive celebration penalty? “Awful. Horrible. I can’t imagine that.” Do you try to tell your guys to avoid excessive celebration? “We coach that hard. You also coach passion and enthusiasm for the game. The thing I teach our guys is don’t you ever embarrass an opponent. Don’t ever do that. We’ve seen that here before. … “A guy dives on his teammate and celebrates – the minute they take that out of the game, I’m out of coaching. I’m going to go teach golf or something like that, because that’s what this is all about. “To see that call — I guess it’s on the record — but I can’t disagree more with that. Now, if he threw a ball in an opponent’s face, or kinda went and talked to the guy, absolutely. Louis Murphy last year got a 15-yard penalty when he scored a touchdown in Ole Miss, he did a Gator chomp and jumped in his teammate’s hand. That was absolutely ridiculous. If he threw his helmet in the stands or something like that, absolutely. That’s nonsense. If your players get a penalty for excessive celebration, do you reprimand them in any way besides the 15-yard penalty? “Pull him out of the game. Yeah, they get reprimanded big time.” --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
