Last year Ryan Mallett was the beneficiary of a fine horse-collar tackle by Nick Fairley of Auburn while the official plainly saw what was happening.
No Call was made, and Mallett didn’t return for the remainder of the game.
Later in the season, Joe Adams had one of his patented runs and was greeted at the end of a run with a horse-collar tackle.
No Call was made and Joe Adams had an injury which nagged him for weeks.
Tyler Wilson took a helmet-to-helmet shot last Saturday against Vanderbilt.
No Call was made and only served once again to illustrate how tough Tyler Wilson is, as if we needed to see one more bone-crunching hit.
Rule 9-1-4 of the NCAA Football Rule Book states, “No player shall target and initiate contact to the head or neck area of a defenseless opponent with the helmet, forearm, elbow or shoulder.”
Our old Buddy Marc Curles of the fine SEC Officiating Group struck again Saturday and admittedly Marquel Wade gave him something to work with.
If you don’t remember Marc Curles, he and the remainder of his officiating crew were suspended after the 2009 Arkansas-Florida Game for pathetically bad calls which tilted the balance of that 23-20 Florida win. As man who’s not a contestant and paid to get the rules correct, he was suspended for a game, one that happened to be on Halloween weekend nonetheless. Bobby Petrino was reprimanded by the SEC for calling the officiating “questionable.”
The Vanderbilt player returned punts later in the game.
So now today ESPN attack dogs come after Marquel Wade and stir up four-year-old animosity toward Bobby Petrino to boot. Do you think they watch the opinions of Barrett Sallee, an SEC Columnist for the College Football News, or do they all simply think alike?
Last night on Scout.com and found via Twitter, Barrett Sallee’s opinion about the hit above was:
“One of the dirtiest cheap shots you will ever see compounded with a horrible attitude after the fact. Bobby Petrino should tack on additional punishment to whatever discipline comes from the SEC Office via a four-sentence memo left at his locker, of course.” (emphasis added)
So how did ESPN treat Curles and Company 2 years ago after he called a critical personal foul on Malcolm Shepard?
SEC ref: ‘I know I made a mistake’
Marc Curles, who blew the call in the Arkansas-Florida game, owns up to the boo-boo.
The subtitle read “a boo boo.” Yeah, a boo boo.
A nineteen or twenty year-old player makes a mistake, and he should be punished more. An official like Marc Curles’ actions bring into question the integrity of the game, and it’s a “boo boo.”
But objectively, it cannot be said that players have never been suspended for hits during football games in the SEC. Maybe there are more out there since January 1, 1990, but no others for football are evident. Single game and half-game suspensions for flagrant fouls in basketball exist with the latter being more common.
In a game between two SEC opponents, it does not appear that any SEC player has received a full-game suspension for a hit occurring during a game in the last two decades.
In 2004 South Carolina players were suspended for the first game of the following year for a fight occurring with Clemson players. ACC/SEC Suspends Players, Scout.com, November 29, 2004
On October 26, 2010 the SEC suspended Mississippi State linebacker Chris Hughes for a hit made against Alabama-Birmingham. MSU Linebacker Suspended For UK Game, Lex18.com [Video was not readily available but may be posted from reliable source and link if uncovered.]
Even earlier this year, the SEC used the half-game suspension against University of Georgia and Vanderbilt players.
From October 19, 2011 “Vanderbilt center Logan Stewart and two Georgia players have been suspended for the first half of their teams’ next football games, Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive announced on Wednesday.” VU accepts player’s suspension, plans to ‘move on to Army,’NashvilleCityPaper.com
Equal treatment by these folks will not come until the Razorbacks pummel other teams into submission, and then these folks will want to be our best buddies. When that day comes, and it will because the Hogs are 22-5 since Halloween of 2009, just remember to treat them with an equal amount of respect.
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