Lane Kiffin claims referee gave him a wild excuse for controversial call

Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin had a fairly significant complaint about the officiating during LSU’s upset loss to Kentucky on Saturday night.

Kentucky took a 21-17 lead into halftime of Saturday’s game thanks to quarterback Kenny Minchey’s quarterback sneak at the goal line, though the play appeared to be stopped short of the line. A second effort pushed Minchey into the end zone as referees let the play continue.

Kiffin claimed Monday that one of the officials told him there was “too much at stake” to blow the whistle and stop the play with Minchey short of the goal line, even when he appeared to be stacked up.

“The line judge just said that, in that situation, there was too much at stake,” Kiffin said, via Doug Samuels of Football Scoop. “He said he would have been killed if he had blown the whistle for the play being stopped, even though it appeared to be stopped.”

“My complaint is that you can’t refuse to blow the whistle because it’s such a big play. If you would have blown that whistle on first down, or with 10 minutes left in the game, for forward progress being stopped, then blow it for protection and for the way the ruling is supposed to work. Don’t not blow it because it’s such a big play. The rules are the rules. If you see it that way, then see it that way.”

If this is accurate, Kiffin is right to be annoyed. While forward progress is a judgement call, officials should not let outside noise influence their calls, though that is easier said than done. The play ended up mattering in a major way since Kentucky went on to win 35-34 in overtime.

Don’t expect Kentucky fans to have much sympathy for Kiffin. To them, this will probably just sound like sour grapes.