College football officiating is officially broken. Don’t believe us? Just ask Matt Campbell and the Iowa State Cyclones.
Refs just took an Iowa State touchdown off the board because of a taunting penalty. It occurred when Cyclones wideout Xavier Hutchinson scampered to the end-zone for a 54-yard touchdown.
Toward the end of the touchdown catch-and-run, Hutchinson looked back toward the defense for a brief moment and then high-stepped into the end-zone. A ref then threw a flag, called it a penalty and wiped the score off the board.
Campbell blew a gasket while arguing the call with an official. We don’t blame him. This is probably the worst taunting call of all-time.
Was this taunting or nah? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/xCFed7Dndu
— PFF College (@PFF_College) October 23, 2021
What’s the point of the excessive celebration penalty? It’s sucking the fun out of college football.
We get that officials need to draw a line. They can’t let games get out of hand. But players shouldn’t get penalized for having fun and celebrating a touchdown.
The rest of the college football world agrees:
I just witnessed the worst call in history of college football. Unsportsmanlike penalty on Iowa State’s Xavier Hutchinson TD catch
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) October 23, 2021
Iowa State had this touchdown called back for taunting.
Xavier Hutchinson “high-stepped” into the endzone, called for excessive celebration. Thankfully he scored a couple plays later.
Make these refs walk home. pic.twitter.com/4KDYe7QRWq
— TJ Eckert (@TJEckertKTUL) October 23, 2021
This touchdown was taken off the board, and that is horseshit of a level I don’t have words for. https://t.co/hHrM0pTSpi
— Adam Kramer (@KegsnEggs) October 23, 2021
WTF, unsportsmanlike on Xavier Hutchinson? This is so bad
— Jeff Schmidt – Football Alliance (@Schmidtalking) October 23, 2021
The good news is that the penalty call didn’t end up costing Iowa State points. Matt Campbell made sure to get the ball back to Xavier Hutchinson later in the drive to ensure he’d score his touchdown.
Iowa State, in the meantime, is up 17-14 over No. 8 Oklahoma State entering the fourth quarter. Let’s hope the refs don’t get involved from here on out.
Speaking of refs, college football officiating needs to change. Let the players have some fun. There’s no reason to prohibit celebrating.
The post College Football World Reacts To Refs Taking Away ISU TD For Celebration appeared first on The Spun.