This is the only time I'll defend the state of Washington

I have not seen a team get this screwed in a very long time.

Lets set the stage.

There is less than 10 seconds left in the game and Washington is down 21-28 to #15 BYU. It is 3rd and goal for the Huskies and Jake Locker takes the snap and sprints to his left. He dodges a few tacklers and dives into the endzone. He jumps up and tosses the football over his shoulder and celebrates with his teammates.

The officials slap him with a 15 yard excessive celebration penalty and Washington proceeds to miss the game-tying extra point and BYU squeaks away with the win.

This is absurd for so many reasons.

First of all why the hell are the officials making that kind of call so late in the game. I can see penalizing him early in the game but officials should not decide the outcome of the game. Players and coaches control the outcome not officials.

Also there was nothing that excessive about the celebration.

The rule states that a player can't throw the ball high in the air but what Locker did really wasn't that bad. His celebration was in no way a taunt or demeaning to the other team. The kid just made a hell of a play and was pumped up.

To basically single this kid out and turn him from hero to hated because of a celebration is just absurd.

College football is what it is because of the passion and emotion. By making this call the officials are ruining what everyone loves about college football. Theses players are not paid entertainers they are kids. They are my age and let me tell you when I score a goal in intramural soccer I have more excessive celebrations.

The officials really made a big big mistake.