over the tit-for-tat call they subsequently gave LSU?

I hope some personal injury lawyers read that.

I keep seeing alot of grief towards the Refs after the SEC’s apology concerning the excessive celebration penalty of AJ Green with 1:09 left on the clock. It seems the Bulldawg Nation is under the impression that the Refs lost the game for them. So, as an individual that loves football, freedom, all things beautiful, and logic, I would like to refute that ridiculous claim.

An entire first half with ONE first-down lost that game. A special teams unit that was allowing 44.5 yards a return on average lost that game. Poor offense (rushing in particular), defense (first half), and special teams (just about everything) lost that game.

Failure to move the ball on the ground made the final Joe Cox interception possible because LSU didn’t have to guard the rush. LSU would have likely had great position to start their last scoring possession regardless of the excessive celebration call because UGA couldn’t slow down Holliday the entire game and there is no reason to think they could have done better then (he returned the last kick for 49 yards). The inability to contain the rush in the last minute when LSU was clearly going to start its possession rushing (45 rushes to 27 pass attempts) falls squarely on the shoulders of Willie Martinez and his defensive unit. UGA even had the opportunity to return the equally penalized final kick return to give their offensive unit better position and failed to do that.

The idea that the momentum swing was insurmountable is equally ridiculous; particularly because UGA showed in the second half that momentum didn’t mean anything or else they would have ended with two first-downs on the day. Point being, for however poorly LSU and UGA played that game, please make the Bulldawg Nation quit making excuses and throwing around blame when they should be looking in the mirror and asking why it came to the last minute in the first place.

In full disclosure, I didn’t have a preference in this game; if I could have seen both teams lose, it wouldn’t have been good enough for me.