Lane Kiffin didn’t hide his frustration Sunday when the subject turned to Kentucky’s overtime touchdown in Saturday night’s loss.
The LSU head coach said an official tried to explain why the play was allowed to continue after Kentucky appeared to be stopped short of the goal line before a late push sent the ball carrier into the end zone. The whistle never came for forward progress, and Kiffin said the line judge gave him a blunt reason.
"The line judge just said, 'Hey, in that situation, there's just too much at stake,'" Kiffin said. "He said he'd be killed if he would have blown the whistle for the play being stopped, even though it appeared to be stopped."
That explanation didn’t sit well with Kiffin. His complaint was simple: the moment shouldn’t matter when it comes to enforcing the rules.
"If you would have blown that whistle on first down, or if there were 10 minutes left in the game for forward progress being stopped ... don't not blow it because it's such a big play," Kiffin said.
"The rules are the rules. So if you see it that way, then see it that way. That's my complaint with it."
Kiffin also pointed to another late call that bothered him: a false start and a timeout that Kentucky was awarded during a two-point conversion attempt.
"Really big decision, really big call there," Kiffin said.
He said communication with the officiating crew was a problem throughout the game, though he closed by acknowledging the result with a shrug.
"But hey, it is what it is," Kiffin said.
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