Kyle Brotzman missing a kick versus Nevada, Cam Newton throwing the first pass that would upset the rolling tide, or Brad Smith’s 45 yard touchdown run against Nebraska. All of these moments changed the game and altered the expected outcome. We’ll never know what might have happened had they not, but one thing is for sure monumental shifts are the bread and butter of college athletes.
But sometimes those game changes are not decided by the players on the field, they are a player being ruled ineligible, a coach suffering a heart attack or a call by an official. Some of these moments can be explained away as youthful indiscretions or the like, others only as acts of God, and some cannot be explained. We can only shake our heads and hope something like that will never happen again.
Enter the play in question, Syracuse up by 8, Kansas State drives the ball down the field, Coffman throws to senior Adrian Hilburn who sprints 30 yards down the field for a Wildcat touchdown. As he crosses the goal line Hilburn drops his arms to his sides, raises his right and salutes the Wildcat faithful, military style. Seconds after Hilburn drops his arm back to his side the back judge said ‘Bad choice, buddy,’” Hilburn said. “I was like, ‘Really? For that?’. With that the call of excessive celebration was made and the entire game came to a screeching halt. Even the Syracuse fans were silent, trying to decipher what had just happened. The game went on, the Wildcats attempting the 2 point conversion from the 18 yard line and Coffman’s pass sailed just a foot shy of David Garrett”s hands, thus ending the inaugural Pinstripe Bowl and crushing the Wildcats bowl dreams.
The NCAA rulebook classifies excessive celebration as “no player shall celebrate in a manner that call attention to himself.” If the NCAA were the police they would be left a loophole a mile wide to arrest anyone and everyone they wanted with wording such as this. If in the real world our laws and rules are clear-cut why should the athletics world be any different? In everyday life when someone is believed to have broken the law their transgressions are brought before a judge or court who ensures that there was in fact a wrongdoing. And if it is determined that the individual in question has done nothing wrong, the officer who wrongly singled them out is reprimanded. However in college athletics when a bad call is made there are no consequences for the official in question. I spent an entire evening searching and was not even able to find the name of the official in question from the KSU Syracuse game. Accountability is not real high on the list of priorities for the NCAA in cases such as the penalties of the Ohio State players, or Cam Newton.
Punishment and congruence of the NCAA and it’s rules are shady at best. As a college athlete I am greatly appreciative of the opportunities this honor gives me. However as I watch these cases unfold I think sadly of the track that college athletics is on. What’s next tripping players to help prolong games like in the Buffalo Wild Wings commercials, or college athletes that stop receiving rings and trophies for their wins and instead demand large checks. I am sorely disappointed with the state of athletics, I hope for the sake of my own career and those hoping to follow behind that the NCAA will see that student athletes are more than pawns in their scheme for tv time ratings, and big money contracts.
peace.love&sports
Tags: athlete, athletics, bad call, Big 10, Big 10 Officials, bowl game, Change, college athletics, college sports, conference championship, conference realignment, espn, fall, football, kstate, kstate football, KState V. Syracuse, KSU, ncaa, ncaa tournament, officials, sideline reporting, sports, wildcats
