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Pigs joining the trend of playing with celebratory fire need to stop

Pigs joining the trend of playing with celebratory fire need to stop

Photo credit: ABC

Bye weeks are typically an opportune time for coaches to discuss details that probably wouldn’t be anywhere near a priority in a normal game week.

In Sam Pittman’s case, he was likely focused on what Arkansas did well in its last game, a 19-14 victory over then-No. 4 Tennessee in front of a national television audience and the sixth-largest crowd in Razorback Stadium history.

Something that might have been lost in the euphoria of victory and all the drama that followed, but that he or someone on his team certainly would have missed, was Ja’Quinden Jackson’s decision-making after scoring a touchdown late in the third quarter against the Volunteers.

At the 7:55 mark below, Jackson mimicked firing a gun, which on the surface doesn’t seem like a big deal and didn’t raise any flags:

YouTube videoYouTube video

Still, in hindsight, one can argue that it could have been disastrous, especially when you look at college football’s landscape today.

Not just in Arkansas

Take, for example, what happened in the USC-Minnesota game earlier the day before kickoff between Arkansas and Tennessee on October 5th.

The Golden Gophers held a one-point lead over the Trojans with less than a minute left, but one of their defenders was penalized for feigning “brandishing a weapon,” which appears to be a focus of college officials this season.

Minnesota was hit with a 15-yard penalty, but fortunately for the Gophers, Lincoln Riley was on the other side and couldn’t figure out how to take advantage, and they secured the 24-17 win.

That’s not all. That same day, South Carolina freshman Dylan Stewart performed a mime act when he shot Jaxson Dart with a shotgun after sacking the Ole Miss quarterback, which ultimately led to a loss at the hands of the Rebels. That resulted in a 15-yard penalty, but it didn’t stop Stewart from doing a similar pantomime after a tackle just a few plays later.

Don’t leave it to the officials

Let’s assume that Malachi Singleton saw Jackson fire a gun after his touchdown in the third quarter and decided to imitate it after scoring his go-ahead touchdown late in the contest.

The officials see it, mark it and fly it 15 yards before the ensuing kickoff, which would have made Tennessee’s life much easier trying to score a game-winning touchdown.

That would have ended up in the ā€œHogs gonna Hogā€ folder and resulted in a lot of crying and gnashing of teeth from Razorback Nation instead of what ultimately happened, which is much better.

It’s crazy that Arkansas essentially received a gift from SEC officials this time around – perhaps indicating a narrative shift in that regard. Think of the Florida robbery in 2009 or several robberies in Auburn (2010 and 2020 come to mind), and maybe they got lucky this time.

Pittman and his team could easily pull out videos of the late Alex Collins’ highlights at Arkansas, and almost every time he scored a touchdown, he would simply hand the ball calmly to the referee and stroll back to the Arkansas sideline.

It’s not that Collins’ play didn’t deserve recognition or that he wasn’t particularly itching to score a goal or make a big play, it’s just that he knew it would take ten other players to do it helping him get to the end zone and he was humble and down to earth by nature.

Additionally, Collins even came from a largely “me-first” culture in the Miami area, where as a child he watched the ultimate “bad boy” Miami Hurricanes, who are the poster children for calling unsportsmanlike penalties after big plays or touchdowns .

Now it may seem like I’m trying to be one of those guys who gets off my lawn. I think college athletes should have fun and enjoy playing the game they love, and they should also be allowed to be demonstrative as long as it’s in good taste.

But at the same time, tempting fate and doing something that only draws attention to yourself or can be construed as taunting or intimidating the other team will only result in a penalty and potentially cost the team a game.

In our politically charged climate, simulating firing a weapon can have other consequences as well. One could reasonably speculate that the fact that Jackson did it in Arkansas, a very red southern state with much more pro-gun rights, may have resulted in no punishment being imposed. However, in Stewart’s case with the Gamecocks, the decision was made and contributed to them losing by such a large margin. Of course, his celebration was also much more demonstrative.

Compare that to the Minnesota defender doing this in Minneapolis, where the George Floyd protests were taking place, and it’s safe to say that the culture of the place where the game was played and the teams involved played a role in it may have played a role in causing Jackson’s escapades to be overlooked.

No pun intended, but Arkansas dodged a bullet in this regard the last time they played in Fayetteville. Expect Arkansas football coaches to have instructed their players to keep such aggressive attitudes in check next time. With No. 8 LSU coming to town, I’d bet Jackson can handle such over-the-top celebrations and be on his best behavior Saturday night.

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More on the trend of simulating shootouts in college football here:

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